


The God and the Bennu

by JayBarou



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Agents of SHIELD, Guest Stars, Janet Van Dyne - Freeform, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Liberal use of mythology, M/M, Magic and Science, Miðgarðr | Midgard, Muspelheim, Not Human!Tony, Odin!Loki, Phoenix - Freeform, Slow Burn, lots of references, Álfheimr | Alfheim, Ásgarðr | Asgard (realm)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-01-19 18:34:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 161,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1479832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBarou/pseuds/JayBarou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki can't pursue his goals against Thanos alone anymore. An old consultant of Odin might be willing to help, but there is one last piece missing. Turns out that the last piece is in Midgard, and maybe not as willing to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Old Memories to Defeat New Foes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The old man paced along the great halls after a tiring Council of the Twelve; he was deep in thought. There were three empty seats that needed to be given to worthy Aesir again: those that used to belong to Thor, Loki, and Frigga. The other two empty seats were not a great concern, but seeing Frigga’s, with the ceremonial mourning offers, had been heartbreaking. Knowing that she had been avenged did nothing to soothe him. The pain only increased as the old man remembered that during the fight and during the last farewell he had been …

One of the einherjar called for Odin to inform him of a group of Dwarves revolting; the king of Asgard nodded and sent him away with orders to take some of the newest soldiers to the borders with him. However, the interruption had not been enough to take his thoughts away from his mother’s death.

… He had been rotting in a cell, and he had been the one to send that damned Berserker her way. The old man sighed as he reached the long cobbled street next to the market docks without paying attention. He received bows and condolences wherever he went. Every corner of Asgard reminded him of Frigga. Every person in every corner remembered the kind queen.

For that and for other reasons he despised every minute he had to spend in the golden realm, but things had to be done.

He exited the walk, left behind the sailors, and reached the aviary through a solitary way of earth. The aviary was as big as the floating tower that stood proud and full of life just on the other side of the waterfalls. The aviary looked imposing as the tower, but nowhere as lively. The main cage was shapeless and made of a thousand different metals, because simple gold could never contain the fire-feathered former inhabitant of the cage.

The Dwarves had had to use their best materials time and again, because the bird only stayed still and silent until the cage was constructed around him; until the last piece, the last rune, or the last spell was in place. As soon as it was finished, he proceeded to ruin all the hard work and laugh at their apparent incompetence. Then the blasted being shape-shifted to a vaguely humanoid form with opposable thumbs and crafted something new and wondrous out of the scraps. The being reveled in that destruction-creation cycle as much as he enjoyed annoying Odin's workers; however, he never stayed humanoid for long; he liked the bird shape better. He enjoyed flying too much to stay in any other shape.

The king of Asgard reached the outside door of the aviary. The outer ring was unwisely made of wood, which had been scorched where the bird had perched too close to the bars. In the last years, the aviary had ended up being more of a bird mansion than a cage. The royal family and some members of the council had had open access to the place, hence the outer ring decorated as some of the richest houses of the Aesir.

Odin had hated the situation with the bird. The Allfather tolerated him because he was wise in his own way, but the creature was also obnoxious and Odin always ended with a headache when he wanted advice from the thing. Thor, as a rule, avoided the rude bird that had talked back to him, a prince of gods, daring to say that Thor didn't fly with the hammer; that the golden prince was only dragged around and would never experience a real flight. Frigga had been enormously amused; she enjoyed the bird’s witty company regularly. Loki had never been sure if the bird was an enemy, a prisoner, or a guest. The young sorcerer knew more than anyone else in Asgard did and still he didn't know much about the past of the creature. He knew, for example, that the fire creature must have been born or created in some part of Muspelheim, that the AllFather had never — in any of his long travels — seen such a creature; and that the being had been a present from the fae at a time before either of the princes were born and Odin needed to be appeased. Still, he didn't know the creature's name.

The aviary was now empty and the bird’s elaborate creations rusted in the inner cage; after the bird had escaped, nobody had bothered to clear it. The old man’s steps on the wood of the outer ring made strange echoes that could have woken the dead. A voice carried through the empty labyrinth of twisted cages mended and re-forged together.

“Could it be that I have a visitor, after all these years?”

“Could be, old friend.” He called back, smiling to himself. He had hoped that Mimir was still there, had trusted that Mimir had been forgotten in the ruckus of the last years. Apparently, he had been right.

The old man reached the place where the voice could be heard and parted the moth-eaten drapes to enter. The round room had several couches, piles of abandoned history books, and a pedestal carved, covered in runes. There was a magnificent glass lamp, now covered in dust, hanging from the high ceiling; there were two statues flanking the big picture windows that showed the cliff and most of the Bifrost; on the opposite wall, the bars of the never-actually-closed cage presented a rather ominous picture, compared to the rest of the parlor. Of course, on the pedestal was Mimir.

Frigga used to talk to the two consultants sitting on the right couch, sometimes about politics, sometimes about gossip, sometimes about travels, sometimes about nothing at all. Loki remembered sitting silently and seriously next to her trying to understand it all. On those occasions, the bird always mocked the kid’s seriousness; Mimir, on the other hand, was always kind to him.

“Young prince, what are you doing in your father’s skin?” Mimir smiled his welcoming smile.

That was a good sign; Loki didn’t want to get rid of him, but that wouldn’t still his hand if he had to silence Mimir, should the old head of the giant be against Loki’s plans.

“You could never be fooled, could you? I’d tell you that this is not my father’s skin, but Odin’s. I’d be insulting your intelligence, though, because you already knew that.”

“Aye, your highness, but …”

“Then I’m no highness.”

“Loki …” Mimir had dreamt of the broken prince, he had wanted to talk to him, but facing him now was different. With a sigh, he realized that Loki would not listen to his advice on personal matters, as Mimir would have liked.

Loki sat on one of the couches (not his mother's) already tired, dropping the illusion and hugging his furs closer, but taking pains to look relaxed on the outside. He didn’t dare to look at the severed head on top of the pedestal. Mimir had been one of Odin’s sources of wisdom, along with the bird and many other creatures that were deemed monsters outside of their cages; outside of their purpose and usefulness.

Later on, Mimir had been not only a useful caged advisor, but also Loki’s and Thor’s tutor at Frigga’s behest. Loki still held a big amount of respect towards the disembodied head thanks to those years of learning.

“From your face, I can see that the revelation was not easy. What happened?”

“The revelation has NOTHING to do with anything anymore!” Loki snapped. “Your queen is dead, it is my fault, and the last thing I told her was a rejection of our bond.” Mimir didn’t interrupt. Knowing the prince, he was not done. “I crawled through unbearable pains, dragged myself here, to this golden hell, and I only brought her destruction. I was a prideful selfish bastard and I never asked for her forgiveness. I could not even say my goodbyes. I was in jail.”

Mimir stayed silent for another long moment, just in case there was more coming. He knew that the prince was regretful, but not willing to change his ways, so he was not going to offer meaningless platitudes or accept Loki’s speech. “That’s not the reason you came here today.”

“No. However, it has been the only thing in my mind since I came back from Svartalfheim. It is tainting my mind and I need a clear head for what is to come.”

“What would that be?” Mimir knew that Loki wouldn't be telling him this just to ease his mind. There was more.

“My doom follows me. And I have no doubts that it will find me. Thanos is resourceful. I saw his dungeons; his pets are desperate for the light of day; they would destroy realms, they would run to the edge of the world and jump if it granted them a small respite from his _merciful_ ministrations.”

Mimir saw Loki, and he couldn’t help but think that the princeling had not grown up that much: Once again overwhelmed by things much bigger than him and still resolved to work it out with as little help as possible. And sad, always a sad boy behind a smile or a polite gesture; now he used disdainful gestures and terrifying smiles, but the core had not changed.

“You should stop visiting dungeons in your travels.” Loki looked up at Mimir when he heard the playful jab; his green eyes were framed in dark shadows. He seemed to have every single muscle tense; even his face was in the verge of a perpetual grimace. “Why don’t you tell me what has happened to you?”

Loki stood up and walked to the part of the wall made of bars that connected with the aviary. He didn’t want to talk about any of it; there were far too many regrets that he didn’t want to face yet. Loki found himself missing the bird; for all the mocking, the fire being had always known what to say to defuse the uneasiness of a difficult conversation.

The bird used to take his side when he did something mischievous. Once, Loki had stayed up practicing magic and had forgotten his written tasks for Mimir. When he showed up the next day, the bird seemed to sense his worry and, in front of everyone, the bird coughed. A bright spark landed on Loki’s undone homework and lit the empty papers aflame.

The bird had apologized profusely (so profusely that it didn't count as an apology anymore); Mimir had looked unimpressed and not fooled at all. The bird had managed to smirk with his beak. Everybody knew that Loki had not done his tasks, but they were too busy looking reprovingly at somebody else. Loki had enjoyed himself enormously, even more so because Thor forgot his work frequently, but the bird had never done something like that for him.

That was the main reason Frigga never … why she never asked the bird to tutor them, even though he was brilliant. However, she … That evening, when Thor had described and exaggerated the size of the fire, she had been hard pressed to contain a smile. She had had such a beautiful smile, and now he wished he could have seen her one last time smiling. He wished he had put that smile there, he wished he had had the time to apologize, the time to explain that he was not her son, but that he yearned to be a Friggason, wished for time for questions, time to forgive.

“Loki, talk to me. What has happened to you?” Loki looked at the bars in front of him, back to the present, where Mimir pressed him to talk and Frigga was still … not alive.

“Don’t you know everything?” he growled. “What good are you if you don’t know what all the realms already know? You are useless, Mimir.”

Now Mimir was absolutely sure that the youngest prince had not grown up at all; still as projecting as when he was just four or five centuries old.

“I’ve been useful for millennia, young god. Don’t you dare imply otherwise, because unlike certain kings in disguise, it is all I have.” Mimir felt Loki tense even more, but he would not change a single word. He had been a relic before the boy was even born, and during the last decades he had been an _abandoned_ relic. “Now take a seat and untangle your thoughts for me. I have dreamt of many things. I know and I’ve seen; now I want to hear it from you.”

Loki scoffed, but did as he was told. “Then I should start with the Bifrost and the longest fall I’ve ever felt.”

“Instead, I’d suggest you start recounting from the last time you smiled sincerely, way before the coronation.” Mimir hoped he knew what he was doing. He had been unraveling gods’ minds since Odin beheaded him, and he had learnt from his dreams of other realms. The light elves called it inwisti envinyanta (which meant roughly “mind mood healed”); the Midgardians called it psychology; he called it talk until the god in question is not going to explode in a fit of rage any more. He had a lot of experience.

They kept talking during the whole day. Loki sent a complex corporeal illusion of Odin in his stead with such ease that Mimir was astonished, but he didn’t let it show. Not now that Loki was describing the void. His dreams became blurry when they showed places far from the Ginnungagap.

Loki spent the good part of an hour talking about Frigga, and loathing himself. Mimir spent the next two hours trying to unsuccessfully ground him, to give him an anchor, telling him that he couldn't blame himself for what the Dark Elves did. Loki was the most stubborn god he had ever met, but he was talking, and Mimir was learning many things that had gone over his head. In fact, Mimir didn’t know everything; his dreams didn’t let him see very far. He had learnt to deduce or to use induction to compensate, and the bennu, the fire bird, had taught him what he had called “to oxcrap”, or something similar; the art of saying nothing with big words.

Honestly, Loki’s visit, even with the man’s anger and grief spilling everywhere, was very welcome. Since the boys had grown up and the bennu had run away, his confinement had been solitary. Odin had never meant for his family to know of the existence of his consultants; and hiding a severed head was easy, but hiding a fiery troublemaker that kept destroying his cage had been impossible, so the aviary had grown the outer ring to accommodate visitants and Mimir hadn't realized how much he enjoyed company until he lost it.

Mimir considered himself a good giant’s head, but he was not above being selfish. He was going to get away from that Norns-be-damned abandoned cage and Loki was the perfect ticket out. He just had to think of a way to convince him or trick him, whichever came first. With the influence of Mimir and the Bennu, it was no wonder that the boy had adopted the moniker of God of Lies and Mischief so early in life.

Meanwhile, Loki was telling him how he had been angered by his brother’s deduction of the reason he was attacking his precious Midgard. Mimir tuned in again when Loki was talking about Thanos’s mind control, because that part was not clear in his dreams.

“I felt myself despair when I saw my eyes blue in a reflection. Not controlling, but showing me Thanos’s plan and planting surveillance on me. He couldn’t read my mind, but he read my willingness, and some of my intentions. I thought I didn’t have a single opportunity, but then I saw Thanos’s plan and it was so moronic that I regretted all the time I had spent suffering and refusing to obey. It would be so easy to thwart his plans … a portal at the most relevant city I could find in a few days. Idiotic!

“So my willingness and my resolve to follow his plans veered noticeably. He was pleased with my change of heart and he sent me on my way. But the best part was that, even if I did everything right, even if my resolution to escape the Mad Titan failed, even if he decided to mind-control me, his plan was doomed.

“I did try to draw as much warrior-worthy attention as I could, and when I realized that Thor was probably going to come to get me I made the most outrageous speech to irk everybody. I foolishly thought that he would remember our conversation on the Bifrost. I thought that he would see that something was wrong with me. I thought he would remember that I didn’t want a throne, much less Midgard’s, but he didn’t. He felt hurt, because everything is about him, always. That goes to prove that Thor never listens, not even this allegedly new Thor … not to me …

“If only Odin had sent Frigga to collect the Tesseract, she would have been so much more perceptive … She always knew me very well. I should have listened to her when I had the chance.”

“You were talking about your plans and Midgard,” interrupted Mimir.

“Yes, I must admit that things went better and worse than expected. Midgard has grown much since the last time I visited behind Odin’s back. Someone needs to revise the Allspeak; they are not like us, humans change quickly, and their languages too. I noticed that the Allspeak failed and I think it was because it is old.”

Loki was not on topic anymore, talking about magic again. That was good; it meant he was relaxing. That also meant that he considered his journey to Midgard a successful plot.

“… after this whole ordeal, I should collect some multilingual humans and add their speech to the fabric of the spell … .” Mimir actually smiled at that.

“Only you would consider working on a complex ancient spell a vacation. May I remind you that ‘this whole ordeal’ is still a mystery for me?”

They were interrupted by the corporeal illusion, which had finished Odin’s responsibilities for the day. Loki almost jumped when he noticed his own spell with Odin’s face, but he hid it well. Then he touched the impersonator’s head and it dissolved. Loki looked distant; Mimir knew enough of magic to know that Loki was assimilating the illusion’s memories.

“Mimir, I’ll come back tomorrow; it seems like Amora is wreaking havoc again. Don’t think I didn’t see what you did with me and all the talking.” Loki cloaked himself with Odin’s skin and murmured a “Thank you,” that was not intended to be heard.

Mimir didn’t have time to request Loki take him to the palace, but the promise of tomorrow was a good start.

A good unfulfilled start, apparently. The young prince didn’t come back the next day or the day after that, but when he came back, he looked like he was ready to drop dead. Fortunately, he only dropped on a couch again. It took five minutes for a word to leave his mouth.

“Did you see that?! That woman is out of her mind! That little menace. I had to send Sif, of all people, to get her. And why Midgard? I try to invade it once and suddenly it is a popular destination for unruly idiots?”

Mimir stifled a roar of laughter. Seeing the famous trickster bothered by ‘that little menace’ and whining still in Odin’s skin was almost too much. Loki didn’t believe in apologies for tardiness, so they went on from where they had left it. This time Loki was nervous about something else, so he retold their fight against the dark elves and his second almost-death much quicker.

Mimir answered with some chosen words, but Loki wouldn’t listen. Loki wanted time to heal himself, because he would never trust a helping hand, and he was healing indeed. Therefore, Mimir didn’t try very hard, just enough to let him know that there was a metaphorical hand offered. At that, Loki laughed something almost sincere that made Mimir think that talking had brought a small progress too.

“Now that I know what you did, tell me what your plans are.”

“I can’t kill Thanos.” Loki’s good mood vanished altogether, which Mimir couldn’t let happen.

“Big surprise. Why? You like him? The appeal of the power? Or is it because you’ve got plans for him?”

“You! Big head full of Snoochi mucus!” Mimir chose to interpret that in a good way, because he was still on the pedestal and not, say, out of the window. “I’d love to hang his organs one by one to dry in the sun and let ants feast on his carcass, although I’m afraid not even ants would touch his body. No. I can’t kill him because he is Lady Death’s protégé. I must find a way of controlling him, caging him, or making him fall into an eternal sleep; something similar that doesn’t imply his death.”

“That sounds very vague. Knowing you, that means that’s not your main plan.”

“Indeed, it is not. I would only push back the date of my execution and enrage him. I’ve also thought of pacifying the nine realms, returning the Casket of Ancient Winters to Jotunheim, and asking for their help to go to war against Thanos. Enough deaths and his lady wouldn’t care as much.”

“Can’t you point the Bifrost again and … maim his army? As a warning? Or an offering to Lady Death?”

“No. They are not stationed in a single planet, and the Bifrost loses strength as the distance increases, so they might feel an especially sunny day and nothing more.”

“But that is not your main plan either.”

“No.” Loki looked even more nervous than before, and that was very worrying.

“Stop procrastinating then. What is it?”

“What if Thanos had never existed?”

“That would be precious and imaginary. I wanted a plan, not a fairy tale.”

“I’m being serious. There is a way to make Thanos never exist.” There was no way that that conversation would be light-hearted again.

“That’s dangerous for both time and space. Are you meddling with dark seiðr?”

“Nothing that serious, just unstable, new magic.” Loki looked the kind of apologetic that was never followed by a real apology.

“Loki! That is even worse! What would the universe use to replace him? You could bring Ragnarok upon us with your foolery”

“I’ve considered it, but it is my only real opportunity. That’s why I’m here. If I erase that abomination from existence, my timeline will be altered and I will never conceive the idea of getting rid of that fiend.”

“That’s what I was trying to say, so where do I come in?”

“There are two milestones to complete my plan. One of them is creating a spell to be released at the same time as Thanos disappears, so all his actions and memories stay, but without him.”

“You mean to create a paradox spell.” Mimir knew it was a difficult feat that could just as easily open a black hole in the heart of Asgard.

“Yes, if you want to put it like that. I am requesting your help to follow the roots of the paradox and protect the negative space that his disappearance will create.”

“Let me think about it. Yes,” he said without delay. “There is no way I’m going to let you blow up my universe without trying to damage-control first. But there is a small thing troubling me. What about the other milestone?”

“I might need your help for that too. I will use the reality gem.” Loki winced. He had the helpless, innocent look down to an art.

“From the vault.” It was almost a question, but not quite. “From the gauntlet.”

“The same one. Stop. Don’t say a thing.” Mimir raised an eyebrow. “I have tried to collect the other gems. I can’t. I had four when I discovered that one of them has been destroyed. Stop. I said silence.” Mimir would swear that he had not opened his mouth. “I know that the gauntlet can’t be used without all the gems; that is why I need a new gauntlet.”

“Are you going to contact the dwarves?” It was the next logical step, after all.

“There comes the problem. One gem was destroyed when it caused a war between the elves and the dwarves. The king of the dwarves died, his heir decided to reduce the jewel to dust and bury it with the former king. None of the dwarfs will help me to control another gem. But, of course, you already knew that.”

To be honest, Mimir was baffled; he had dreamt of the war and the dispute over a tenth of the heirloom. Never had he dreamt that the stone could be one of the gems. However, he nodded sagely.

“What are you going to do then?”

“That’s where I was hoping for a little help. Do you know of any smith master? Have you dreamt of someone with such power over metals?”

Mimir thought about it deeply. “There is a fire giant, but he is growing old and blind. I’ve seen a human control metal expertly with his mind, but he is deep in his own war and would distrust you on sight. There is an elf too, but she only likes to work for elves.”

“I could shape shift, but elves always take very long to craft metals.”

“I think the answer might be closer than you think.”

“Why?” Loki perked up at that. “Is there such a smith in Asgard?”

Mimir just looked pointedly to the bars at the other end of the room. Loki followed his gaze and he raised his eyebrows.

“Really? You think it possible? You know where that bird ran away?”

“No. He asked me to stay away so Odin wouldn’t interrogate me, but now that Odin is in the Odinsleep I can try to find him in my next dream.”

“Oh, Mimir, you know I’m far too impatient for that.” He said with a genuine smile. Apparently, the good news had him in an excellent mood. He jumped from the couch and shape shifted smoothly into a snidget mid-jump, rushed through the bars, and went back to Loki in the same smooth movement.

Loki paced the inside of the cage and realized that the chaos of strange bent metals made sense from that position. It looked like someone very angry had half-destroyed his works. It had a sad look too; unfinished, abandoned, but extraordinary anyway, and full of potential. He paced some more and then flew to the most inaccessible parts of the cage as a magpie. He found what he was looking for behind what looked like a metal claw.

Loki crouched and smiled; there were scattered ashes and hot, angry red embers. He reached for them, knowing that he’d burn himself and whatever he tried to use; he bit his lip. His hand turned blue slowly and he scooped up as much ash as he could in his Jotun hands. At some point during his imprisonment, he had realized that he had no quarrel with the ice giants; his hate was focused on the lies he had been told as a child, not on the ice giants themselves. He further realized that ice manipulation could very well save his life if he ever faced, let’s say, a fire giant. Or a great angry fire-bird his brain supplied unhelpfully.

So he had decided that he would learn to use a Jotun body, if only for the sake of survival. His conversation with Mimir had only pushed him further in that direction. He realized that not once had he mentioned any hatred for the giants, unless it was followed by how much everyone hated him, including himself.

The embers in his hands felt warm, not very hot. He was actively freezing the ashes and even then, he could not put them out; nothing surprising. If he hadn’t been using this power he would have been incapable of holding them without losing a limb. The ashes felt alive; then again, a Bennu’s ashes weren’t burnt wood or coal; they held some of the bird’s magic.

Loki walked back to Mimir, smiling the whole way despite the dreaded blue in his hands. He didn’t shape-shift, instead using a different spell to walk through the bars without effort. “What a conceited princeling,” was whispered from the back of the room; Loki only smiled broader. He approached the pedestal so Mimir could look too.

“Loki, that is disgusting! That’s the bird’s last corpse before Odin spooked it.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“I don’t even have your idea yet; therefore I should let you do your magic. Unless you know the Bennu’s full name?”

“Of course not. He was with the Fae before being with us; he will never trust his full name to anyone again. It would have been useful to track him, though.”

“What are you doing, then?”

“His ashes are aflame. It means that something is feeding them; he must be alive somewhere. I will ask the cinders to give me something of their bigger whole in exchange for taking them back to their owner.”

Loki switched to a language full of crackles that Mimir didn’t recognize. For a second he had forgotten that the prince had not gained the title of God of Fire for nothing. The embers glowed stronger and suddenly there was a small flame.

“Look at that! They are indeed alive!” said Loki.

The flame didn’t make a sound, but it danced minutely.

“Seems like they recognize me,” he said, almost proudly.

Loki said more words and the flame danced as if in the middle of a hurricane; then it died. Loki scowled, although he would have denied it.

“For some reason, they do not trust me. I have not met with their whole in a long time. They shouldn’t need to deliberate for so long.”

“Will you convince them?”

“Eventually.” They waited for a long time, until the ashes started to move. “But it looks like it won’t be needed today.”

The grey matter rolled around lazily making shapes, runes, symbols and letters. The embers changed their colour to a green, purple or blue haze. “The bird used to live with the dwarves; they say Odin found him there and that he ran away yet again; now he is hidden even from himself so nobody can reach him; ah! He is in Midgard,” mustered Loki. “It is no wonder his ashes didn’t want to help. He probably witnessed my demise as a frightened human.”

The sand-like embers twirled and piled up in a small human-ish form. The features of the hidden creature were more defined with each passing second, but Loki had no use for more details. He had seen the brightest ember, the closest to white, crawl up the figure’s leg, roll up the hips and sink in the chest, only to reappear in a perfect circle where a human’s sternum should be.

Loki looked disbelievingly at the growing detail of the figure in his hands as he repeated, “No wonder the ashes didn’t trust me.”


	2. The Other Side of Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile on Midgard...

Anthony Edward Stark strutted through the military airport as if he owned it. Some time ago his surname had been plastered in so many of the planes and weapons that he could have claimed it as his own. Now, he could see Hammer’s name on some of the crates, and he felt moderately proud of not being there anymore.

His friend James Rhodes came down from a plane; Rhodey was giving orders into a phone in his hand: a Stark phone, Tony noticed with a smirk. He saw Tony and walked to him without hanging up. Tony got the last words of the conversation “That is not where our resources will go, I’d rather burn down this airport myself. We will talk when you come back to your senses.” Then he pointed at Tony.

“And you, you are not supposed to be here,” he said to the man with a winning smile. “How did you get in?”

“Oh! You know, people still hope that I’ll change my mind.”

“But they never expected you to be that stubborn, yeah, story of your life.” James looked back to the plane he had just left behind. “Look, coffee here is shit, why don’t you wait for me and we go somewhere else and you tell me that huge secret of yours?”

“It is not a huge secret. I only put the arc reactor back in. I didn’t want to say it on the phone in case SHIELD…”

“You WHAT?” Rhodes shouted. “You insane idiot! I thought you were over stupid things after Pepper left.” He hushed, walking out beside Tony. Whatever other plans he had had were automatically out of the window. Tony put on his shades when the sun fell on them and refused to look at his friend in the eye while they left the compound.

“No, listen, it is the best choice. I’ve had no less than ten people disabling my suit by taking out arc reactor, and I can’t even count the number of guys trying to steal the suit whole, and when there’s a number Tony Stark can’t count, that’s a problem. Some of them weren’t even the class of villain I’ve come to expect, just common opportunists!” Tony had thought that having the reactor out of his body would be an advantage in battle: less vulnerability. More room in his chest cavity meant breathing easier and more resilience, for starters. He had not expected the swarm of little villains who had previously been put off by having to kill him to take him out.

“So, instead of securing it in your suit, you undo your surgery to protect a piece of machinery. How very clever.” Both of them reached the on-base bar and settled themselves. They were surrounded by Air Force officers, but Tony didn’t really care as long as there were no SHIELD agents involved.

“I knew you wouldn’t understand. This reactor doesn’t need to power anything but the suit; it can be off until I need it. Now, without the magnet, it is almost flat, so there’s no damage to my bones, lungs, trachea, or heart. I won’t have a shiny ‘aim here’ when I’m Iron Man. There is no heat signature unless I want it. Everything is positive! Let’s celebrate!” He proclaimed loudly the last part, signaling the bartender to get them something to drink.

“Let me see it.”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” was the quick answer.

“Save it for the ladies. I want to see the peak of your stupidity once again.”

“In case you didn’t notice, that there was an evasive tactic, that roughly translates to ‘hell no.’” Tony had his public smile and he hated using his public smile with friends, but that was an unfortunately common occurrence nowadays.

“So what is the point in telling me?”

“I want to modify the Iron Patriot.” James squinted; trying to figure out how much of it was a joke. He was almost sure that it was no joke. Almost.

“As you put it: hell, no. You are not making me a cyborg like you, not until cars actually fly.”

“I said modify the Iron Patriot, you are just the piece of meat on the inside.”

“You won’t give it back.”

“With that new paint job? You would have to pay me to keep it.”

“You’ll mess with it, somehow. You’ll make it play AC/DC at 5 A.M. or something worse.”

“Of course. Hi, I’m Tony Stark. I thought we had been introduced before. But never mind, I didn’t come to ask for permission.” Tony was fighting the public smile to show a real one. It was not easy.

“What? Why not?”

“Because I changed your password, I only came to warn you. By the way, software security is the first thing that I’ll update; I’ll need your biometrics.”

“Tony, you can’t take it like that! What if there is an emergency?”

“That I’ll do your job for you, better than you, and faster than you. Do you really have to ask?”

“It looks like I don’t have a say in it, so now that you are at it, you could make it a normal size; it feels like it was designed for a dwarf.”

“I bet it is roomy where it matters.”

“Actually, yes, the helmet is very spacious, but you had to put your ego somewhere, right?”

“You, sir, are a vile Bilgesnipe.”

“That sounds like Thor. Is he around?” asked Rhodey, and Tony smirked. When they listed his qualities, both positive and negative (mostly negative), nobody would ever say that Tony knew how to make a conversation go his way, because nobody remembered that before he was a superhero, playboy, philanthropist and all the crap that he told everyone, he was a genius who grew up among vultures. The only reason he never showed off his manipulative skills was because it was an asset best kept in the dark. Well, the main reason. Reasons abounded.

“Aww. You jealous? But yes, he stayed on Earth after what he did to poor old Greenwich, and he has been with Jane in the tower for the last week.”

“Who’s Jane?”

“A brilliant mind with the engineering ability of a fourth grade music teacher. Also, she’s Thor’s human guide, turned-hook-up-turned- girlfriend and turned down for queen or something. When I was not working on the repulsors for Fury’s new helicarrier, or with Banner on the un-greenie serum, Jane and I were working on a project that could be the final step to teleportation.”

“Fantastic. You might start to get to places on time.”

“Not really, it only works on interplanetary level.”

“Why is that?”

“For the same reason that you wouldn’t use a plane to go two blocks away”

“Makes sense.”

The conversation came to a natural pause and Tony noticed how his hands and feet had gone cold since they had left the sunny street.“C’mon, it’s not that hot, why do they have the AC that high?”

“I swear it, if you make a scene like the last time I won’t go out with you ever again.” James only sounded half-joking.

“I told you, it is not making a scene if I’m having a panic attack. I know how to make a scene, I’m the king of making scenes, and that didn’t even rate as a two out of a hundred.” Tony looked around. “And it is cold, don’t try to gaslight me.” He was feeling cold, but there were more sensations there, more feelings under his skin. Uneasiness was the most persistent at the moment.

“Yeah, whatever. It is mainly soldiers who have PTSD, what did you do to have it? Think about it, if you didn’t have it after Afghanistan, after the cave, where did you get it? You are an inventor, Tony, and you are safe in your suit when you fight … and you aren't be that easy to break. Heh, now that I think about it, maybe you just pretend the attacks to get out of sticky situations.”

“Fuck you, man! I’ve done plenty of things.”

Tony knew that it was a joke, but it hurt. He would have recounted how much research he had done after his panic attack: how he had denied it for days, how he had thought that he was weak for it, how he had fought against it and how he had discovered that what others said was bullshit. He was not weak, any stress could cause it. Fuck, even exams could cause it. He was Tony Stark with a panic attack, not weak, never weak, and shut your pie hole, thanks.

But he had tried that, with sweet, understanding, capable, competent, sympathetic Pepper, and she had only been sympathetic to a point. James wouldn’t understand it in a thousand years that Tony was tired of jokes and he was tired of explaining. Stark Industries had wanted an explanation (that he had avoided expertly). The Avengers had wanted an explanation too. Well, Steve had wanted an explanation and Natasha had interrogated him to see if he was a liability now, which he was not.

Also, he was not currently feeling up to the task of recounting his research or his feelings. 

He was even colder, and at the same time he was feeling the opposite of lonely, but a sense of longing and warmth viled it. Tony knew that the feeling didn’t come from the situation; he was not ok, and the only recent change he knew of that could be affecting him was the new reactor. It couldn’t be poisoning again, could it? Allergic to some component? It was not a panic attack; he felt far too comfortable for that. What the hell was happening to him?

Anyway, it could wait a few hours. Tony gave his head a shake. He was not going to run away for a second time. James wouldn’t let him live it down if he did that. He was going to calmly take his drink, not scare his friend, not give him reasons to point and laugh, and later he’d do some scans.

“Tony, what is that?” James pointed at the drink Tony was holding. Tony looked too, and he saw the … anomaly. Was that ice on the glass…? Was it framing exactly  his fingers and growing thicker? Tony put the glass down and stood up, but he was feeling not-lonely and fine, absolutely fine. There was no fear. “Tony, your lips are getting blue.” Tony touched his lips, but he didn’t feel threatened by the cold. “Did you get that mutant voodoo or something? Is that the secret that you wanted to show me?”

“What? No. I wanted to tell you about the reactor and your password change, this is … unexpected.”

“That’s it. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No.”

“Stop being a child.”

“I’m not being a child. I don’t want SHIELD to get a wind of what is in my chest again, which is what will happen if a hospital sees it and writes it down in a database somewhere. We are going to calm down; I’m going back to my tower; JARVIS is going to run some scans and you are going to fly your shitty suit over so it stops being a shitty suit and I’ll give you the results there and then if you are that worried, honey.” And now he was feeling a tiny bit in control of something big, like a supernova.

“You’ll get there fine on your own?”

“Sure, I have my driver if I need help.”

“Fine, I’ll see you there”

Tony walked back to his sports car, he sat in the pilot’s seat and put pedal to the metal. Of course no driver was really waiting for him. He regretted not taking a convertible when the sun came through the window and it felt incredible on his frozen skin. Creaking and crackling alerted him that his leather seat had not taken well his new icy condition. Three different parts cracked; the seat would be destroyed by the time the ice melted. Perfect, a new project for his queue.

“JARVIS. Call Bruce, ask him if he is still in town and tell him that I’m going to play around with the reactor. He has been with me through all the surgery, if I pass out at some point he’ll be the most likely to know what to do. Send a memo to Captain Spangles too, I’m off active duty for the day. Don’t explain if he wants to know why. Then give back the passwords to the Iron Patriot and turn on the scanners in labs 3 and 4. Turn on the X gene prototype too, just in case Rhodey was … less wrong than usual.”

“Done, sir. Doctor Banner is in town and calling concerned. He also wishes to know when to go to the tower.”

“Thank you, JARVIS, you are the best.”

“Thank you, sir, although, it would probably sound less arrogant if you hadn’t been the one to build me.” Tony chuckled.

“Put my science bro on speaker ok?”

Bruce's voice came from the speakes of the car. “Tony? Tony, what happened?”

“I’m not sure, Bruce, that’s why I’m calling. I’m turning into a Popsicle!”

“Is that a reference for Steve? I’m never sure with you. And I don’t want to know if something is going on between you two.”

“Not this time and not ever. Listen, I started to feel weird. I thought I was high, or poisoned, or allergic to the new casing of the reactor. Then I froze a glass of scotch,” ok, it hadn’t been scotch, it had been quite a bit less alcoholic, but nobody needed to know that, “and I look as if I had been on the top of the Everest for a walk just a minute ago. Best thing? I feel fine, physically, mentally, I feel … did you say something?”

“No. I was listening. I’m thinking something like reversed Extremis. Did it happen before or after you drank the scotch?”

“Almost at the same time, I think. Fuck, I should have taken the glass with me. I … did you say something again?”

“Tony, are you hearing voices? Hold on, I’ll be at the tower in ten minutes.” Bruce hung up and Tony listened intently now that the speakers were not interfering.

He could hear a distant voice with a balmy tone, he was sure it was a greeting and a wistful feeling of … recognition overflowed him. The recognition brought a mix of feelings that would have driven a lesser man crazy. There was care and amusement, nostalgia and fear, and excitement, and then he also felt smug, but that was not new; he felt nervous and quite uncooperative for some reason.

Fortunately, he had arrived at the tower, so he jumped out of the car and got in the elevator.

“JARVIS, heat up the labs as much as you can without damaging the instruments or the results and use the emergency protocol in this elevator. Turn on all the thermal cameras. Today we are playing science.”

By the time Bruce arrived, he had taken out the reactor and had tested it for everything he could think of. It was normal, even normal temperature.

“So it’s not the reactor, it is you,” Bruce concluded, already soaked in sweat thanks to the lab’s conditions.

“It could be Loki messing with me.” 

“What are you on about? You heard Thor; he is dead.” Bruce reviewed the results, reaching the same conclusion: the reactor was not to blame.

“Yeah, but his glow stick malfunctioned on me, so maybe this is some secondary effect.” Tony defended himself. He wasn't sure why he had thought of Loki first.

“It touched your previous reactor, not this one. I don’t think that is it. Anyway, that was long ago; why would you think of Loki now?”

“I don’t know. I’m hearing voices in my head. You think I’m the sanest person right now? Scratch that. Did you ever think I was sane?”

“True. Let’s start the next tests while you tell me about the voices. What are they saying?”

They moved to a machine where Tony laid down. The arcs turned around him, and he felt moderately safer knowing that it was his own tech and not some hospital’s faulty property.

“At first they asked me if I was alive, if I could talk, if I remembered them, but I don’t recognize the language, like when you read in a dream. You hear yourself reading aloud, but you can’t see the words. Then there was confusion from a different part, it felt a bit like a hangover.”

“Radiation scans negative. I’m still freaking out; you look half frozen to death.” Bruce looked him over and back at the readings, then, at some point on the wall, as if what Tony had said were written there.

“Yeah? Check the thermal cameras if you really want to freak out.”

JARVIS pulled up the images. The contour was so cold that it was almost black, the inside, however, was so hot that it was almost white. Green, blue, orange and red could only be seen in a thin line between the black and white.

“My internal organs should be melting,” Tony said, reconnecting his reactor and turning it on, feeling a bit safer with it attached. “JARVIS says that internal and external temperatures are constantly balanced: the colder outside, the hotter inside. Which reminds me: JARVIS, normal temperature again. I don’t think it’s doing any good and our poor doctor will sweat a pool and die of dehydration on me. Hey, Doctor Sweaty, check this out.” Tony took a pen, put it in front of his face and blew gently. The pen quickly bent down. Tony smiled. “I’m a dragon now.”

“That’s … we need to know if your organs are melting. Well, obviously not, but we need to know what’s happening to them.”

“Rhodey asked if I had gone mutant. I want to try that first.”

“Fine, just keep telling me about the voices.”

“Yeah, yeah. Right now they are quiet, waiting.”

Bruce looked up from the monitor. “Waiting for what?”

“For me to answer. You see, in fact, I think there is only one voice and the other voice is my own replying. My voice answered that I remembered, I don’t know why, and the other voice seemed happy, and made a promise and asked me for something, but it is crazy and confusing, there is a whole and a part and the voice knows that the part wants the whole, and now I want doughnuts and holes.”

“You are not a mutant either, Tony,” Bruce said, looking away from the prototype. “Are you hearing yourself? Do you think this could be mind control?”

“You said it yourself, Loki is dead.”

“Tony, we have encountered plenty of mind readers after that: Clint told us that there was someone else in his head even in the beginning, and just yesterday SHIELD sent a warning about an Asgardian sorceress who mind-controlled men. Do you have any idea of who could be doing this?”

“My voice said something about Dwarves and Odin, so this has Asgard written all over it.”

“Do you think there could be someone in your head listening in right now?”

“That’s not what I feel. It is not as if someone was in my mind, invading. If I had to describe it, I’d say that my mind is out of my mind and the voice is standing politely on the doormat.”

“… and it is asking to be let in? Because you know the answer to that one.”

“No.” Tony sat in the next machine. “It is not. It asked to give it a way to find me. The voice wants to find me because it wants help.”

“Your organs are not being fried, cooked, boiled, or melted. Next one. So, your internal voice is not giving it a way to find you and the voice is now silent? Congratulations,” Bruce deadpanned, “your voice has more common sense than you.”

“Maybe I should rephrase that. My mojo is deciding if the voice is trustworthy; my mojo is figuratively considering taking the sweets from the stranger.”

“You can’t do that!”

“I don’t have control over that, Brucy. The mojo is deciding on its own.”

“And what does your voice think about that?”

Tony twirled an unbent pen as he considered what he was feeling. “It already recognized the voice. I think…. My voice wants to trust…. I think the other voice is trusted.”

Tony realized he had made a terrible mistake when he felt his voice getting suddenly joyful. It wanted the promise and they would get the promise, and now they had permission and the other voice would take them. Something convoluted.

“Bruce.”

“What?”

Tony was almost scared, and that was never good news for the world as a whole. “The voice. I’ve given something to the voice. And the voice is not answering. I don’t know what is happening, Bruce. Something went wrong.”

“Tony, there is still a possibility that all of this is just hallucinations.”

“My voice is nervous now, and it is blabbering, I don’t know what it is saying, but it is very, you know, a very me thing to do.”

“Sirs, Colonel James Rhodes is requesting entrance to the labs.”

“Let him in, Jay,” Tony said breathing deeply. “Both of you, listen, don’t let him know that I lost my mind. Ok? He is bad enough since the panic attack.”

Bruce gave him a pitying look that Tony didn’t mind very much. Bruce had always been one of the very few that understood him. He had called from a lost city in the middle of nowhere to ask if he was okay after the Mandarin incident. Four months after, but still before most of Tony’s acquaintances. Tony had taken the first flight (and then bus, and then a bicycle thing that he didn’t want to see ever again) to said middle of nowhere so he could thank his friend properly.

Then the city had grown a hospital and a small school. Tony and Bruce had spent the duration of the construction recruiting personnel and developing a system to give drinkable water to the city.

When he came back, Tony had two new patents, had learnt Bengali (and had used it to upgrade his coding to something spectacular with a lot of squiggles), had gained who knows how many market points for Stark Industries, and had decided that Bruce was incredible and had the patience of a saint. Pepper was only fuming a little after his unannounced runaway.

“Tony. What do the scans say?” James interrupted his thinking.

“I don’t know about the scans, but look at this.”

Tony took the unbent pen and blew while Bruce rolled his eyes. James looked properly surprised and turned his attention to the not-child in the room.

“What’s wrong with him, beside the obvious?”

“We are not sure. The scanners show nothing, but I’m doing blood tests now.”

“So he is the ice princess, breathing fire, but everything is fine?”

“WHOA!” shouted Tony jumping to his feet from the scanner he was sitting on. He stepped on a half melted pool of ice and almost face-planted on the floor. He looked at his own feet and up into Bruce’s eyes, and Bruce took it as a ‘we’ll keep talking later’. However, what he said was: “I slipped! The ice is receding! ”

“JARVIS, is that true?”

“Yes, Dr. Banner.” The thermal camera lit up again. “Sir’s core temperature also appears to be dropping to normal readings again too.”

“Quick! Take samples of my blood before this fades.”

“I will, but if it is fading from your system, it will probably fade from the samples too,” Bruce answered, grabbing test tubes as quickly as lab safety allowed. “The good news is that the needle won’t melt or crack with the temperature difference; the bad news, I’ll need more than blood samples.”

“I didn’t know you were into that, Doctor!” Tony said, mock-scandalized. Bruce smiled, but he was not fooled. Tony may have said that Colonel Rhodes was a friend, but he was on edge around him. Bruce had noticed that Tony’s jokes tended to be much more sexually-themed when he was feeling fidgety.

“You don’t know half of what I’m into,” said Bruce. Tony laughed before wincing when Bruce stuck him with the syringe. “Now stay still. You may want to inform Steve of the situation. I won’t let you out until we get the results.”

“What? Are you going to handcuff me to the bed or something? JARVIS, you got that? Tell the good old captain that I’ll take a vacation until Bruce here lets me out.”

“You should inform your CEO, too,” James reminded him.

Bruce scowled to the soldier on his back without really looking at him, Tony explained. “Not really; she has been out of town for a week and she will stay there for another week if it’s up to me, which it is.”

“Meeting new international customers?”

“Oh, I’m sure she will come home from Kuwait with several new clients, but she is officially there on holidays.” Tony sent a smirk his way and wriggled his eyebrows. “I sent her with her own personal bodyguard, so they should be Happy together.”

“You played matchmaker? Really? For your ex? That’s twisted, man. Wait, is that why you are on a science binge, again?”

Tony didn’t even bat an eye; at least it was not a drinking binge. That relationship had turned sour and unhealthy very quickly and they had dragged the failed couple thing out for far too many months. They were lucky to still be friends and co-workers, most days. If he was going to salvage something of that relationship, it was going to be sobriety; there was nothing else to salvage. Bruce and, surprisingly, Natasha had been there when shit hit the fan; James had invited him to a bachelor party to drink away his problems. Thinking about it, Tony considered that was probably the day Bruce took James’s title as best friend.

“Yeah, well, what can I say, I couldn’t stand them making eyes at each other, which reminds me: things I can’t stand. I have a meeting on the eighth floor in two hours. You think I’ll be able to make it, Doctor? Will I survive that long?”

“Provided that whatever it was doesn’t come back before the meeting, I don’t see why not.”

“Oh! Shame, I was hoping to die before that.”

“Then, is everything under control? I have to go back to the base.”

“Sure. JARVIS? Change Rhodey’s password again.”

“You hurt my pride.” But he was already leaving.

When the echo of his steps died, Tony turned back to Bruce. “The other voice was back.”

Bruce frowned. “Okay. What happened?”

“It let go of me, I stopped feeling cold and then I felt caged, and I know that’s a contradiction in terms but that’s what this whole day has felt like. That’s when I shouted, when the ice melted; my voice was scared, expecting a broken promise once again and the feeling of veing in a cage was stronger. The voice whispered reassurances until my voice calmed down. It said that it would find a way, that it wouldn’t leave my voice, that they would find the whole together, that my voice had been very good, that there was nothing to worry about, all very patronizing, and, huh, something odd …” Tony’s gaze focused inward.

Bruce slipped off a glove so he could massage his forehead. “What? Tony, you can’t leave anything out, especially not if I’m the only one you are going to trust to with this.” Tony smiled tiredly and thought happily that of course Bruce would keep his secret. Pepper would have told Fury, or Steve; she had done just that ‘for his own good’ several times.

“It said that the egg was necessary if I wanted to avoid burning everything.”

“What?!”

Good! So it didn’t make sense outside his head either! “I don’t know! It sounded like a parent or a pet owner trying to explain that the doctor won’t hurt them.”

They stayed silent.

“My blood tests are going to come up clean, aren’t they?” Tony said trying to sound confident.

“Yes, I think so. Maybe you got caught up in some Asgardian mind melding radio frequency?”

“Ugh, we are going to have to talk to Thor.”

“He is our only source, yes, unless you have another alien hidden in a file cabinet you forgot to tell me about.”

“Never, Bruce! You know that I’d share with you any extraterrestrial biohazard material that I found. I’d send you half the alien, well, maybe only a leg, or an ear. Wait, you said that there was an Asgardian killing people, right? Let’s meet her.”

Bruce took a long moment to clean his glasses before he asked, “Why are you so opposed to asking Thor?”

“I love the guy; really. He is like a fluffy cheerful ray of sunshine on steroids. But talking to him is like pulling teeth. I’ve tried to learn things about Asgard and their _advanced technology_ fifteen times only this week …”

“Today is Tuesday.” 

“… exactly! And he has his head full of honor. Call me a hipster, but he embodies the mainstream of Asgard. He knows the things that he is supposed to know, thinks what he is supposed to think, says what he is supposed to say, and I want the real deal. I don’t want to know that Asgard is the protector of the Nine Realms, pretty awful protectors considering what they did to the ice realm with the unpronounceable name, and how a race of long extinct enemies almost destroyed their … capital? but, I mean, I want ask ‘why do you use swords and hammers instead of guns?’ and not get ‘because those are noble weapons’ as a response, which manages to be silly and insulting at the same, but without him realizing that he said something wrong. Then there is a long explanation of what I'm really asking, by me, and then by someone else, because I don’t have enough patience for him, and then he still only understands half of it, and I get a ‘because our weapons are very well crafted by the Dwarves,’ and who are the Dwarves? What and why is ‘well crafted’? Ugh, it is exhausting.”

“So, he frustrates you.” Bruce clapped Tony on the shoulder. “You probably frustrate him, too, with your endless speeches and strange questions, but we need to ask.”

“Let’s wait on that until the blood test brings a negative, ok?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! A new chapter! My offer to go on still stands, but my schedule is the same as for the last one. You were all so nice that I couldn't keep you waiting. I ask for patience, but as you have seen, comments keep me working on it. Thank you.


	3. Setting Plans in Motion

Loki was still crouched in front of Mimir, cradling what had to be an ashen miniature of the human he had thrown through a window; just his luck. Mimir and the figurine were looking at him with matching worried faces.

“You know the human?”

“You must have seen him too, if you dreamt of my mishap on Midgard,” Loki answered, still inspecting the figure.

“Hmm … Oh! I see … one of the Warriors Six”

Loki hummed in the affirmative, but he stayed otherwise silent. He would have to ponder this very carefully. The Bennu’s ashes remembered Loki, but the human probably didn’t remember his bird shape, although he had managed to keep flying, and he had nested in the highest tower of the city; also, he was still sharp tongued and built marvels out of metal. It was embarrassing, really, how obvious it was once the association was made.

“Should those be doing that?” Mimir asked, frowning.

Loki focused back on the figure. It had its hands in its pockets, head tilted and the line of its shoulders tense. The facade looked mostly relaxed, but the brightness gave it away. Fire was not easily contained or controlled; lying was equally difficult in the fire language. As a child, Loki had learnt to tell lies and manipulate truth first in white flames, then in silver words.

Therefore, the ashes were unable to hide their nervous withering; some of the embers were flickering restlessly, talking in conflicting fire. Tiny fires flickered in and out of existence on the shoulders, hair, eyes…. The embers were questioning each other, irritated for being ignored, pondering if they had done the right thing, wondering if Loki were going to be a new betrayal. The arguing flames were so small and quick that Loki was sure he was not supposed to have noticed them.

“No, no they shouldn’t. I think they are troubled. Let me…”

“Wait, Loki,” said Mimir, “let me talk before you race off somewhere and don't listen anymore. You are going to need help with the spell, and figuring out this situation with the Bennu.”

“Yes,” Loki confirmed in a cold tone, already expecting some kind of blackmail or demand for payment. “That’s why I asked for your help.”

“It will be more convenient if I stay with you at the palace. Odin can’t be seen coming here every day.”

If Loki was surprised by the request, he didn’t show it. “He can’t be seen consulting you in the palace every day either, else peasants, nobility class, warriors and adversaries alike will think Odin is losing his mind; that he has become weak and easy to overthrow …” Mimir had expected the refusal, but he was not going to stay quiet and let it happen. “… so we’ll have to keep you in Odin’s private quarters.”

“Fine by me!” he said, relieved of the burden to convince the Wordsmith. “All I want is a new landscape.”

“That can be arranged. Now let me find somewhere to put the embers. Jotun hands can’t hurt them, but I don’t think they are enjoying the cold either.”

Loki looked up and around. He stood up, unbending his strained knees and cradling the figurine. It looked like it had crumbled back to ashes when he stood up, but looking closer, he corrected his assumption: the pile of ash was still human; it had only lost its footing, so now it was sitting on Loki’s hands, hands now out of its pockets and supporting it, features less defined, but even more restless than before.

“I think I saw something we can use back there.” he said, reentering the cage and searching the floor.

“What are you looking for?” asked Mimir from the outside.

“I need something to contain the ashes. The cage was made to contain the bird.”

“Unsuccessfully.”

“Successful in containing the flames, however. There is no way to contain an unquiet mind in a physical cage. They should have left an open door; they would have saved a lot of time.”

“Are you looking for something in particular?”

“Do you remember that time when Mother asked the bird if he had a family?”

“Of course; he never answered; he said that his contraptions were his mindchildren.”

“The next morning he claimed loudly that he had hatched and offered Frigga some mechanical eggs that did all kinds of things. Well, I think I saw the casing of one of them, unfinished, somewhere over here, and it would work marvelously for my purpose.”

“Isn’t there some box that would work just fine? I think I can see one from here.”

“I won’t use ‘just some box’.” Loki sounded pleased and affronted at the same time and it was impossible to know which was hiding which. “Who do you think I am, exactly?”

“Today? I don’t know. Last time you were: quote, ‘no highness’, unquote.”

“I might not be an Aesir prince any longer, but I’m still Jotunheim’s heir, and above everything I’m still Loki, which is better than any prince in any realm.”

“You should choose a mood and keep it for more than a few minutes. If I had a neck you’d give me whiplash.” Mimir didn’t really mind the mood swing; he was going to be out of the aviary at last, and this was the first conversation he’d had in years. He was content and just enjoying being able to exchange words again.

Mimir couldn’t see Loki; he had gone too far into the cage, but he heard his steps coming to a stop.

“What is whiplash and why would I give it to you?”

“Oh, excuse my language; I tend to get new words from my dreams,” and be eager to use them, he would not say out loud. “Whiplash is the name of the kind of pain that Thor suffered when he was learning to take off and land with Mjolnir.”

“I see … like the motion of the whip. I think I know what it is; I’ve felt it when riding young or wild horses.” Loki smiled even though Mimir couldn’t see him. “That would have been a fine word to use in those days.”

“I don’t think the word existed then.”

“Where is it from?” Mimir couldn’t see Loki in the depths of the cage, but he could guess by the tone, how he had narrowed his eyes.

“Midgard.”

“I avow, lately, that place exists to torment me!” Loki mused to himself. “But there you have an example of the Allspeak malfunctioning. I should have understood the meaning, if not the word … Oh! There you are!”

Loki crouched again and pushed the still very jittery, humanoid ashes to one hand, ordering them, “don’t fall,” in a hushed voice. He picked up the egg and riveted his gaze on the piece of metalwork. There were expertly crafted curved cogwheels on the surface. The structure wams meant to activate a sequence of movements when the egg was opened, but now the cogwheels ran idle. The egg only moved the gears uselessly when Loki opened it with a soft click.

However, if the egg had been anticlimactic, the sudden fireworks when he put the cinders in the egg were not. The ashes regained the very defined human form and they seemed irate, or frightened; probably scared and deceived. The embers shouted in explosions like firecrackers, only bright red and blinding white, giving way to angry dancing flames.

Loki kept the egg open and listened intently, trying to decipher what worried the embers so. He walked back to Mimir using the most soothing fire words that came to his mind, they didn't like the egg, they thought it was a trap. While the embers roared with the rage of an all-consuming heath fire, Loki answered with variations of the home tones of a hearth and the sound of a strong controlled bonfire, Loki was not hurting them, but helping, the egg was necessary. He shushed the little ashen humanoid, playing with it and entwining his fingers in the flames over it, which seemed to please them very much as they calmed.

Mimir laughed when he saw Loki come back into the cage’s antechamber. “I might not understand your elemental language, but it is clear as the day that you sound like a mother. I thought that those rumors about you were only your way of scaring off the suitors Odin found for you.”

Loki smiled bitterly. “Every lie holds the sediment of truth. I’ve never sired nor birthed an heir, but I’ve taken care of a fair number of young creatures in my life. I took care of Þjálfi and Röskva when Thor brought them to Asgard and promptly forgot about their existence,” Loki kept dabbling with the now-subdued flames absentmindedly. “They died of old age, as humans do. I helped the unwanted eight-legged foal, too, until Odin discovered he was the fastest steed in the Nine Realms and took him away. Hella, Fenrir, the Elf twins, the Ophidian … I remember them and the hatred they received. Unfortunately, I remember the death of most of them too.”

“So you had many adopted children,” Mimir had a small suspicion.

“I wouldn’t call them my children. I didn’t have any authority or expectations. They are mine only because they are dear to me.”

Yes. Mimir wouldn’t say it aloud, even if he was offered his old body back, but he was sure that they had been Loki’s children. If the stories were true, none had been treated too kindly. Discovering that he was adopted and a monster probably created unwelcome connections that sent him to distressing realizations. The flames basking in Loki’s pampering only confirmed further Mimir’s suspicions.

“Likewise, I’ve had unfortunate experience managing flames of all sizes.” Loki closed the egg slowly now that the flame was controlled. “Let us leave. I’ll make it so anyone that looks your way will see a helmet … if you agree.” Mimir nodded and let himself be camouflaged and carried by the now-disguised Loki, but that didn’t keep him from talking.

“What kind of experience?” he asked as they left the aviary; Mimir enjoyed fresh air once more, so much that he almost forgot the questio he had asked. Loki smiled again, and it was strange, such a mischievous smile gracing Odin’s features.

“I went with the Stupid Three, Lady Sif and Thor on a mission to the far borders. It was a night with a bright full moon, but Fandral wanted torches and my magic light was not an honest way, nor a reliable one.” Loki clenched his fists unconsciously. “The swamp that we had to cross had very inflammable gases. I had to constantly convince their five torches not to explode. And they were only marginally less stubborn than their wielders.

“Then the fools got lost. They wanted to camp there in the wet swamp and wait, so I took the matter into my own hands. I made a protective shield, then let the torches out of it and told them to go wild. The gas explosion engulfed the whole swamp and it could be seen from miles away. As instructed, the flames only burnt the gas before coming back and telling me what they had seen. Ten minutes later we were out and on solid ground. To this day, all of them think that my magic was out of control and that we survived by chance alone, I enjoyed their faces far too much to correct them.”

Suddenly Mimir realized that he had seen the trickster smile more in the last two days than in the last year worth of dreams. Loki wouldn’t let anyone else see him petting flames, doubting himself, or talking about his mother. Somehow he had earned the Trickster’s trust, and it was an unsettling thought. Because trust with Loki meant that Mimir was no threat; Mimir was easier to trust than an able-bodied Aesir who could run away and tell his secrets. That was not as reassuring as Mimir could have wanted it to be, but it meant that Loki talked freely, and Mimir knew that it was helping him and putting him in a better mood than all the last years together.

Loki stopped a servant outside the doors of the palace.

“What are you doing, boy?” Mimir had to gawk a bit at the fantastic interpretation. Loki assumed an empty face that promised retribution if the smallest thing were not to his liking; it was very much like Odin, and Mimir thought for a dizzying second that everything had been a ruse, and Odin was the one carrying his treacherous head.

“Lady Freja sent me to get some things for her, your majesty, Allfather.” The servant looked right down to the floor, firm.

“You will pass by the training quarters on your way back, good; you will tell any of the Warriors Three to meet me in the council room.” The boy bowed in a short practiced move and left.

“What are you planning, Loki?” Mimir said when they were alone.

“Wait and see, Mimir. Let me keep some of the expectancy for now. However, I’m not anticipating success out of this; that’s why I’m sending one of the Three.”

“I’m not going to be of any help if you don’t tell me …”

However, they found someone was already waiting in the council room and Mimir had to keep quiet. It was a merry man who, left alone in space, probably had a strong gravitational field. Only Volstagg after a great feast was bigger than him. Nevertheless, the man was very good in his are. In two thousand years, no god had come close to moving him from his position as the master builder.

“Odin, your Majesty! I’m glad of being the harbinger of good news. The reconstruction of the west buildings is finished. We will need your approval to start the new section.”

“I have seen your plans, Gropius.” Odin was neutral, but he had always managed to make people fear his every move and seek his appreciation at the same time. Loki played the role to perfection. “I won’t let you build that abomination on the South; we’ll talk about it in the morning. You can proceed with the rest of it. I hope the sorceresses are being useful.”

“They are! It is not praiseworthy, of course, it is still magic, but it is quick. Who’d have thought that those hoodlums could be useful? Right?” Gropius was terrible at hiding his displeasure, but Loki-Odin ignored it.

“Apparently only me.”

“Your ideas are always worthy, Allfather.” at least that didn’t sound sarcastic, or scared, but rather sincere in Mimir's opinion.

“There is nothing else to discuss; you may leave, master builder.”

“As you wish.”

The man left with the customary bow, and Mimir turned his attention back to Loki.

“What abomination were you talking about?”

“His outlines are fine, but he wants to build a memorial that is not necessary. We are not going to forget and the Aesir descendants shouldn’t have to be tethered by our suffering. They should have the chance to see our present as their history to learn, not their pain too. Memorials and tales are the reason we still hate our old enemies.”

“Looks like you have had time to think about it.”

“Time is all you have in the void, or in cages. You know it far better than I.”

The door opening silenced their conversation. Hogun and Fandral knealt and expected orders. For Loki the whole ‘kneel before me’ had lost its appeal after a week of cooperative subjects. He knew it had to be done to maintain distance, formality and respect, but he was impatient with such nonsense. Flourishes were awkward and time-consuming; Loki didn’t need them; he wanted his orders abided by quickly and efficiently.

“You called for us, your majesty?”

“That I did. Unless there are more pressing matters, you will be sent to Midgard as ambassadors to inform my son that he will be welcomed in the halls of Asgard along with his betrothed in three Aesir days. You will extend this bidding to my son’s shield-brothers on Midgard. Lastly, you will summon all warriors whose minds were touched by the Tesseract. Their minds are not safe yet; we’ll rid them of the corruption that was thrown upon them. For this, you will have to contact a warrior called Fury the Overseer; Thor will take you to him.”

“But, sir, we are not messengers. We are proud warriors of Asgard; we can’t be reduced to mere couriers, sir.” Said Fandral startled.

“And he is sending us as warriors, Fandral,” Hogun answered before his friend could get them in trouble. “We will meet other warriors and allies. If it were a political mission, a diplomat would be sent in our stead.” Loki sent an appreciative nod Hogun’s way.

“You have one day to bring back an answer. You are dismissed.”

The two warriors backed off respectfully and closed the door after them. For a second, rushed steps could be heard behind them.

“What …” started Mimir.

“Hush, you.”

A breathless voice carried through the doors, and Mimir knew that Loki was using some spell, because the thick wood covered in gold leafs had never let any noise in or out when the real Odin had brought him to that very room a long time ago.

“What did he want?”

“To use us as carrier pigeons! Can you believe it? He could send those useless crows. But no, send the best warriors to …” Fandral’s voice was lost and Loki dropped his regal posture in favor of something more comfortable.

“What was that?”

“That, Mimir, was a plot that will never reach its full potential. However, it will be very profitable.” Mimir waited in silence until Loki took the hint and decided to be less cryptic and share. It had worked when Mimir was teaching him and it still had the same effect “I’m not sure if the Bennu will come; if he remembers something about his previous lives, he won’t accept the invitation.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“He probably won’t come anyway, but it doesn’t matter now. There are many things in motion.” Loki took Mimir out and up to Odin’s private tower. He settled the severed head on the wide banister of the balcony and they watched the skyline. “We will have to be careful. Some of them could be a problem: Thor’s human, the widow … this will be fun.” Loki was not smiling this time, but Mimir knew that a proper enigma could keep Loki amused without outer signs of enjoyment. They saw the Bifrost light up the sky.

“Why them?” 

“Because Odin would never abase himself going to Midgard; they should be the ones coming to his feet. This would be a show of dominance and power for him. He would show to his subordinates how humans are at his beck and call; that’s why I’m going to spread the rumor that they were the ones to ask for Asgard’s help.”

“But why not send someone who could convince them all to come?”

“This is already highly conspicuous. The Allfather wouldn’t give formal audience or acknowledgement to plain humans. I’m sending Thor’s friends because they are easily trusted; they look unthreatening when they are not battling. Fandral will look out of his depth and Volstagg will be terrible and make all kinds of mistakes that a diplomat would not commit. Essentially, I’m using the ‘lovely idiots’ card because they wouldn’t trust an expert.”

“I see… Let’s hope this works.”

“I’m not worried, nothing in this part of the plan is essential. Let me tell you why.”

 

The three warriors were not very sure of how they had managed to get captured three minutes into their mission. The Bifrost had dropped them in front of a concrete structure with a heavy metal door. It had to be the closest place to Thor and Heimdall had said that Thor was not in combat, so they assumed that the structure was friendly, and they knocked and called for Thor.

A side door, hidden, opened to let humans come out, surrounding them. Of course, they were humans without shields or swords, so they were not a menace, probably just a welcome party, possibly just servants, at least in Fandral’s opinion.

Volstagg got a bad feeling when they were silently herded inside like storfe and pointed at with the black artifacts (and now that it was mentioned, humans had forgotten about honest weapons long ago, right? Maybe the black artifacts were magic and less safe than what they originally assumed). He tried to explain vociferously that they were Aesir and they couldn't be threatened. It didn’t have the desired effect; in fact, it had no effect at all. Then a woman dressed as the other soldiers came to them (and by now they knew that they had to be soldiers).

Fandral tried to charm her away in order to meet their leader; she was not amused. Lady Hill introduced herself in an excessively polite way that Fandral had seen in his queen’s face when she was about to throw someone to the dungeons for disrespecting her or her family.

They were shoved into three separate rooms, like Frigga would have done. Fandral didn't back off, but called and shouted until someone came in, the agent who came didn’t let him out, he only had questions that Fandral refused to answer until he was released. Fandral tried to be friendly with the mortal, though; but humans were starting to get tiring.

Volstagg could be heard in the adjoining cell; he was hitting the door and had dented it several times already, but it didn’t give in. When he stopped knocking on the door, someone tried to open it from the outside, but the dents made it impossible. Volstagg heard how the person on the other side said that they would need the “Jaws of Life,” and he couldn’t help but think that, with such a name, humans must have much more powerful magic than Thor had recounted, what a disgraceful race.

Meanwhile Hogun observed the room, took off all his weapons, left them on the floor, and sat on one of the two chairs. Soon, a different woman came in carrying papers and pictures. They stared at each other for the first minute, nearly unblinking, before starting any kind of conversation.

Fifteen minutes later, Fandral’s room opened; on the other side, the woman and Hogun stood silent as ever. The woman told Fandral’s agent that they had everything they needed and that she would be taking care of the new guests. Fandral walked through the halls with them, but silence was not his gift, so he tried to compliment the woman. Hogun stopped him.

“Humans are now like light Elves and the southern lands of the Dwarves. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“What?! Why?! They send their women into battle? I’ll never understand why they do that. Women should be protected as the best treasure of the Nine Realms.”

“Don’t,” warned Hogun.

“I have been told that Lady Sif and your former queen are among the ‘fiercest and strongest warriors.’ Thor’s words,” the woman retorted.

“They are; they are too stubborn to be anything but warriors, but they should be prized and sheltered. They fought their nature to be with us and they won.”

The woman nodded, and it felt like she was nodding to something that he hadn’t said, something not good. That scared him enough to join their silence. Fandral would play and tease the girls at court, but he had learnt to keep mostly quiet around Sif; this woman was probably similar. Maybe Lady Hill was like that too. Then they reached a hall where two humans were working with something like a metal beak that made a hissing noise. It seemed like they were trying to open a door. They watched them work until the door was ajar enough to let a seething Volstagg out.

“Friends! Did the humans offer you food? Because I’ve been here for too long without food.”

“Come.” The woman resumed her march and they followed, Fandral and Volstagg complaining loudly on the back.

They reached a higher level that reminded them less of the Dwarf caves and more of the humble houses on the outskirts of Asgard. The woman led them through a set of wooden doors and they found themselves in a room with a big table, many empty chairs and five occupied: Lady Hill, who sent Fandral the same very polite smile; three other men, and Thor, who stood up to greet his friends.

“The Warriors Three! Your presence here is most welcome!”

“I don’t think so, Thor, there has been no food,” Volstagg said in all seriousness.

Thor laughed while the woman talked quietly with the man at the end of the table. The other three humans were listening in, but they were looking at the foreigners at the same time.

“What is your charge here in Midgard, my friends?”

The man at the end of the table interrupted the still nonexistent conversation. “Yes, what is your business in my planet? See, the last time we heard of one of your kind, she was trying to conquer the planet by sheer manpower, literally, and she left with your other warrior hours ago; the time before that, a stick of yours almost made our division in Europe cry because suddenly there were rabid mobs with superstrength; another of your charming visits destroyed Greenwich; and let’s not forget that time when this man’s psycho brother brought an invasion. So you’d better give me a good reason not to send you back the way you came.”

“Director Fury, they are my friends: Volstagg the Voluminous, Fandral the Dashing, and Hogun the Grim,” Thor stated good-naturedly, as if that was reason enough.

“We know who they are. We have records from Puente Antiguo. I want the why.”

“They are my shield brothers; I will not have you soil their names with accusations,” Thor came to defend them.

“The alien dictator was your adopted brother and it didn’t stop him.”

“We come bearing a message from Odin himself,” Volstagg said cheerfully.

“Oh! Angels of the Lord!” one of the humans stated in a monotone: the one who twirled an arrow in his hand.

“Mister Hogun, would you mind repeating your words in the interrogation room?” the nameless woman said.

“Odin sends us to contact Fury the Overseer and Thor.”

“Is something wrong? Why Fury?” the other male human inquired, the one not twirling an arrow.

“Odin requests Fury sends the warriors whose minds were touched by the scepter to Asgard in four Midgarian days. The Allfather wants to make amends for Loki’s damages, now that he is gone. He can heal their minds.”

“Sir,” Hogun was interrupted again by the arrow man, “it could cure the agents who have been complaining about nightmares.”

“You included, Barton?” Fury raised an eyebrow.

The human, Barton, took a second to answer. “Yes.”

“You all are our only source of information, you can’t be healed yet.”

“Sir, that would be risking valuable agents’ health in exchange for unreliable information.” Lady Hill mentioned looking at something in her hands with the other female.

“Director Fury, those soldiers count on you,” the arrowless human stated.

“Yeah, listen to Cap. He is probably on a first name basis with all of them. He could make them go to Asgard without your permission. Nat, of course, could make them go with the twitch of her left eye.”

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose and murmured something that sounded like, “This was not how the Avengers initiative was meant to work.”

“There is more,” the human who was probably called Nat added. The others looked back at Hogun, and Thor wondered briefly if he had been saving the words of a whole week for such a long speech today.

“Odin Allfather has invited Thor’s woman and his shield brothers to visit Asgard.”

“Fantastic news! Friends, these are some of the Avengers: Eye of Hawk, Black Widow and Captain America.” Thor pointed at each of them. “You can consider them informed, but we must go to tell the rest too! Let us go now.”

“Wait, Thor, I want to be updated.”

“And you will be, Director Fury.”

“No, not if Stark is involved, so you will call from here,” Fury said, touching a plain surface behind him. The Warriors Three were almost relieved at seeing a familiar system, and an old one at that. The human known as Captain America said something about Stark sending a message and not being available and Banner going to India. Fury answered something that they didn’t understand, but that sounded dismissive and rude.

Three black images appeared with a white point in the middle turning in circles. The image on the right quickly changed into the woman they had met the last time they visited Midgard. The other two humans they had met were there too; the old man and the young woman; there was someone else, but none of them were paying attention.

“Dear Jane, I have good news.”

The image in the middle lit up and showed two men only a few seconds after that, before Lady Jane could utter a word. Fury touched something and the third image disappeared. The other two rectangles were enlarged.

“What are you two doing together and why didn’t you come to the mission today?”

“I sent a message to our captain, oh, captain. We were busy,” chattered the one who looked like a short dark-haired version of Fandral.

“Busy? How busy?” Barton said in a lewd tone.

“Do you really want to know, birdy? Or should I leave the juicy bits out for the peace of mind of your tiny brain?”

“Drop it, you two. Tony, you didn’t explain yourself in the message. What’s wrong?”

“Just some post-op check up of my reactor removal. I’m fine.”

“Lies,” muttered the widow woman.

“Ok, you got me. I come from the boringestest meeting ever, I’m not fine after that: I think I’m hearing things; ghosts from Asgard and, look! Now I see things too, because back there I see the Lord of the Rings’ extras! And hi, Jane!”

“Hi Tony, I’m glad you let someone other than yourself use the line. Hi Doctor Banner.” A wave from the other man confirmed that he was listening. “What is the good news, Thor? Before Tony takes over again.”

“Friends, these are The Warriors Three: Volstagg the Voluminous, Fandral the Dashing and Hogun the Grim.”

“Huh…”

“Shut up and listen, Stark.” Fury seemed more similar to Odin than they had expected.

“Warriors Three, you know Lady Jane; these are the Man of Iron and Hulk, my other shield-brothers here. The Warriors Three bring an invitation from the Allfather; he will receive the Avengers, Lady Jane, and the humans touched by the scepter, in the Golden Realm, in four days. Isn’t that marvelous?”

Surprisingly, the three faces on the screen didn’t seem overjoyed. The two males exchanged a quick look and Lady Jane looked uncomfortable and concerned.

“Can I join in?” sounded a female voice from out of the picture. “If Mr. Boxers ex-Mindslave goes, he is going to need a nanny, and you’ll be too busy making out with your god.” Jane looked behind her and hushed the other female.

“Nobody is going anywhere, Darcy.”

“Actually, if Mr. Boxers was touched by the scepter, he must come. It was a summoning by his Majesty.” Hogun guessed that he had not understood something by the soft snickers. “It is to heal his mind; no harm will come to any from this visit.”

“No,” came from the other picture. “I don’t mean to hurt you, big guy, but your daddy doesn’t send good vibes. I’ve talked with Jane before and he wasn’t welcoming humans then. I won’t go to your Viking paradise.”

Lady Jane looked worried on the other screen. “Yes. I don’t understand this sudden change either. But … if Odin can cure him, I’m willing to go,” decided Lady Jane.

"I don’t need a cure!" shouted someone from the back.

“I think I’m staying too. Sorry, Thor, but I don’t know if the Other Guy would handle the trip very well. I’d rather contain the damage to one realm.”

“I expected it of you, but not of Tony,” Thor said sadly.“You have asked me numerous times about our realm; I thought that you would jump at the opportunity.”

“Yes, Tin Man, always the reckless idiot. Is there something you want to share with the class? Are you scared of a little trip to the stars?” the Eye of Hawk said.

“Not with so many Asgardians who will remember my face forever.” There was a thick silence. “Okay! Have you brushed up your mythology?!” Tony burst out. “I don’t trust that guy. And I don’t see why you do. All of this smells like a trap.”

“Odin is my Father, Stark.” Thor sounded angry again, but he looked briefly at his woman, the woman that fis father had compared with a goat, and he deflated somewhat.

“Fathers can be assholes, I would know.”

“I changed when I came to Midgard. It made me see humans in a new way. He might have seen that too after Jane’s help defeating Malekith.”

“Sorry, not sorry, still a no. Anyway, I have a company to run until Pepper comes back, I don’t think she’d approve this impromptu trip.”

“Captain America will go,” Fury went on with the plan, ignoring the Man of Iron. “And Agent Maria Hill too.” Lady Hill looked shocked for a moment before she could compose herself. “She’s not an Avenger, but she is the only one I would trust with my agents. Romanoff, you are staying. I want someone here in case shit happens. You three, your boss will have to pay if he wants my agents’ heads.”

“Pay for help freely given?” Volstagg wondered aloud, offended again.

“You said it was a summons,” the widow human stepped in, “and therefore, it was not help freely given, but a help imposed on us. As much as I loathe admitting it, Stark is right: Odin is not famous for being a peaceful king or a straightforward one. It sounds like either a trap or a plan. There must be a reason for him to want our agents healed; there is something he will gain from this, so we want a payment.”

“We are in no position to negotiate,” Fandral mentioned.

“And we do not negotiate. This is a set thing, and this will happen as we want or it will not happen at all,” Fury declared. “Agent Hill will have questions and she will bring back answers about who Thanos is and why my agents were having nightmares about him. You’d better inform your god of this.”

The encounter went on for several minutes, but from that moment on, it was practically finished and Hogun’s silence made it obvious. A time and place for the trip to Asgard was set. Offers were made to stay the night at the tower, but only food changed their refusal. They agreed to have something to eat at the tower before leaving, and Thor guided them to the new location.

However, once they were sitting with the round savory food in the middle and some of Midgard’s mightiest heroes next to them, not Lady Jane, nor the other avengers from the video, came to meet them.

The home-voice (and the Warriors Three were sure that Midgard had accepted magic far too easily; improper as Elves) told them that the three scientists had “holed up” in the med research lab bay and that they wouldn’t come out until they felt absolutely exhausted. Whatever that meant; sorcerer’s stuff, probably.

By the time they went back to Asgard, it was already night. They went to sleep instead of reporting right back to Odin. Nobody wanted to wake him up to give him more-or-less bad news.

They didn’t know that he was up; they didn’t know that he was getting news; and that he didn’t know how to interpret them.


	4. Neuroscience for Dummies

 

Tony hung up on Fury and looked back at Bruce. Tony had received part of the results about his blood tests during the meeting: exactly the same composition as during the surgery. They both were worried because the results didn’t mean that there was nothing wrong, only that they could not detect it. Now he felt his blood boiling, and it had nothing to do with real heat in his veins.

“This doesn’t sound right. Bruce, buddy, my clever boy, tell me that you see it too. First, I start hearing voices that mention Odin and suddenly the guy sends the cavalry to get us? It can’t be a coincidence. Bruce, I’m not going crazy, am I?”

“Tony, I’ve never known you anything less than crazy.”

“Thanks, you are a pal. Wait, what if I’m going un-crazy? That’d be even worse, what would you all do with a sane me?!” And that was as much babbling from Tony as Bruce could listen without tuning out right then.

“Tony, we have more pressing matters.”

“Yeah, I know, asking Thor. There are still a couple of body fluid tests to do, right? Where are my pee tests? Can’t we wait until those are done?” Tony plopped himself on the couch face-first.

“Not what I meant. We do have another source who is not Thor.”

“We do? Since when?” sounded from somewhere: within the cushions, probably.

“Since Jane,” Bruce said, sitting in the part of the couch not occupied by a maniac genius.

“Oh. OH! Yes! She speaks Thor-science, science-Thor,” Tony said, resurfacing but not standing up.

“Do you think you’ll be able to trust her?” Bruce felt compelled to ask, because Tony had pushed people away when he was uncomfortable too many times and Bruce didn’t know anymore when something would trigger a reaction out of him.

Tony was about to dismiss his concern with a joke, but he saw that Bruce was sincerely worried and he dropped the funny carefree act a few notches.

“I’ll manage. Just … be here. JARVIS? Call the astrophysics lab for me. Even better, send her a message.”

“Done, sir. Incoming call from Doctor Jane Foster.”

“That was fast! Pick up. Hi, Jane!”

“What do you want, Tony? There is too much to do with this sudden field trip.” She sounded tired and Tony felt a tiny bit sorry, because after this she was going to be exhausted. Her refusal to collaborate was not even in the spectrum of possibilities, and both Bruce and Tony knew it.

“I hear voices from Asgard in my head, I froze a glass with my bare hands, and I melted a pen with my breath.” There, dropping the bomb and seeing what happens was the only way Tony could tell serious things; that or saying it in the middle of a conversation, hoping that nobody got it. The line had gone deadly silent. “… and I’m not high … or drunk.”

“Doctor Foster, I’ve seen the thermal cameras. He is not joking; we would appreciate your help,” Bruce tried. Tony grinned privately because Bruce was doing the ‘JARVIS is in the ceiling’ thing, even though he knew that the mic system was not there.

“It has something to do with your refusal to go to Asgard, right?” And that, right there, was one of the reasons Tony liked the astro-scientist.

“That too, but I just hate Odin instinctively. It’s not just the myths, or that he made Thor the unquestioning war machine that he is, or was, before Earth, or that he thinks we are less than cattle, going by what you told us, or that he is full of himself, and that he has proclaimed himself protector of everyone. It is just … I don’t know; the whole?”

“Yes, he was charming like that when I met him, but you are missing on a great opportunity. You should have seen the ships.” Jane could use the company, too, if Tony’s assumptions were correct. She was not looking forward to facing the old one-eyed Viking on her own.

“I have an exploded view of the ball you described, you’ll have to come over and tell me if it is accurate.”

“Oh! Yes! That thing was astonishing, and it was a TOY! I can’t believe it was just a toy.” There was one more reason he liked the scientist: childish passion.

“I can’t believe you didn’t snatch one for me!”

“We can keep fanboying over alien technology on the phone or we can work on something serious. Would you mind if we pick your brain for a bit, Doctor Foster?”

“I’ll be there in a moment.” Bruce always seemed to bring the serious or the protective side of everyone. Tony included himself in that last part. Truth be told, Tony’s protective side was a bit oversized. Not that anyone had noticed, but he didn’t have most of his friends living under his roof just because of the slumber parties.

A short time later, Jane arrived and they explained everything to her before going over hypotheses. Extremis was ruled out; the new Asgardian woman-threat was already captured, so she was a big fat ‘no’; Jane thought that it was too much a coincidence for Odin to act so out of place after such an event, just like them, then. Everyone was on the same page and Tony had managed not to panic; he was going to build himself a prize one of these days.

“We wanted to ask you if you had some kind of magic detector.” Bruce sounded hopeful. “I still have some of Tony’s samples and I won’t use them if you have a better way of detecting whatever this is.”

“Well, yes, I got a lot of samples from different worlds during Greenwich, but a manual check would take time. Besides, Tony’s samples will probably equal Midgard anyway. But it would be good to determine if it is known to us: it can be something that we can detect even if it is otherworldly, or it can be ‘magic’. And then we would have to find a new path to treat ‘magic’. The downside is that I have a lot of detectable samples, but I don’t have access to any magic besides Mjolnir, so I don’t have a clear signature for magic.”

“I could get you more magic signatures from SHIELD,” Tony added, “at least what they detected from the Tesseract, the scepter, some gadgets here and there …”

“Are they still working as if magic was a kind of wave?”

“I think so.” Tony had not looked too close.

“Yes. They discarded the theory of magic as particles ages ago.” Bruce said helpfully.

“Well, they are wrong. I developed the theory to consider a particle-wave point of view.”

“You did?!” Tony gaped. “You used the wave-duality?! What about the Kronecker delta function?” Tony questioned crossing his arms and resting his back on the bar behind him.

“Yes! I updated again and got better results on the readings, but nobody seems to see my reports! I mean, now they are paying me for this stuff, shouldn’t they be more interested?”

“I know what you mean, Doctor Foster. It happened with all my papers when we dealt with the Skrulls. I decided long ago that I would keep my studies for myself and send them just the results,” Bruce said, amused.

“Just call me Jane.”

“Likewise.” Both smiled politely.

“Jane, dear, you are wasting your time. Last month Bruce and I sent a file with just our conclusions and half of The Foundation, you know, Asimov”.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Well, nobody noticed. So far, only someone not related to the science division has asked us for the second half of the book.”

“So, pranks aside, we are more or less still stuck,” Bruce summed up.

“I guess so. What did your MRI scans say?” Jane asked.

“We didn’t touch my brain.”

“We thought that it was something physical,” Bruce and Tony looked at each other, half ashamed of not thinking of it before.

“And you were probably right, until you started hearing dreamlike voices. So you didn’t do a PET, an EROS, a fMRI … nothing?”

“Should we do one of each now?”

“I don’t think there is going to be an answer there now; it is too late,” was Bruce’s negative approach.

“Humor this dying man,” Tony pouted.

“You will not die!” Jane was clearly worried.

“Fine,” Bruce conceded, “let’s go to the med lab, I bet they will love to have us back.”

“Back?” Jane asked warily.

“We used their facilities in our research on the Other Guy. They were not happy afterwards.”

“Oh, God.”

In fact, most of the med labs evacuated the floor in a preemptive move when they saw them come. Tony knew that Pepper employed top quality, open minded, forehanded scientists, but he had expected more excitement, more sense of adventure, and less caution from them. There had been exactly five lab-coat-clad people who had stayed to help operate the machines and explain the results. Tony made a mental note to remember the names and raise their salaries.

“Tony, there is nothing wrong with your brain,” came Jane’s voice from a speaker.

“You mean apart from being unusually perfect,” Tony answered from inside the MRI machine.

They changed rooms and Tony was growing tired of submitting himself to machines; it had to be the other way round! It was the natural order of things and Tony was planning on a whole week in his workshop to compensate. Right now, he was feeling derided by his own tech. A colorful plastic helmet with a thousand wires that could invade his thoughts … it was anything but a dignified situation. Honestly, he had felt less occupied by the voices in his head.

“Tony, this man says that there is a small area that lights up in random parts of the brain.” That was Bruce’s voice.

“So what do we do about it? Is it dangerous?” That was Jane.

“No idea, Dr. Foster.” That was the SI employee.

“Excellent!” That was Tony, of course.

“Tony. Concentrate. Think of the conversation, the voices, the incident ...” came Bruce’s reassuring voice again.

“Is it working?” he asked a few seconds later.

“No. The hippocampus is active and the amygdala is a bit overactive, the orbitofrontal cortex is reacting to the recent events, the anterior cingulate cortex is giving a faint signal, which means that Mr. Stark is worried, but not as much as he should be, some behavioral areas seem somewhat odd in their patterns, but nothing is out of place; only the small wandering mass.” Tony was almost sure that this guy’s name was Dave, or something that started with D.

“Think more. Try … I don’t know. Describe everything again.” They were grasping at straws there and they knew it, but there was no way they would leave the labs now that they had ‘a small area that lights up in random parts of the brain’. They had ignored JARVIS and his increasingly insistent reminders of food, and they had bypassed dinner. Except, nothing they did worked.

“How about you … try to use that voice, or hmm … call it?”

“Call it? Oh, fine, I thought it was going to be difficult. Hey, voice, want to have some beers with my unimaginative partners? Sure!” Ok, maybe he was a bit tired and sleep-deprived, but he couldn’t be blamed: he had spent most of the day plugged here or there. Before that, they had had a small Avengers fight, a boring debrief, the SI meeting, and he had had to send some designs to Nicaragua; furthermore, Pepper had called to check that the company was still standing. The voice had not been the worst part of the last fifty hours. If he could, he would welcome it and thank it for the timely intrusion that had taken his thoughts from his earthly worries.

“Tony, keep doing that.”

“What. It worked? Or do you enjoy my voice that much?”

“It … the mass stopped moving. Keep … doing whatever you were doing.”

“Hey, thing in my head that I hope is not an alien tumor, nice to meet you. Mind sharing with us why my brain is your plaything?” he said with as much faith as he could muster this late.

“Are you … thinking of it?”

“Well, of course.”

“Try to speak to yourself; in your mind. The areas that are lighting up are mainly of one’s self awareness, as well as communication; there are other areas scattered, far too many, Mr. Stark, but the wandering mass is engaging with them. Maybe we can try to focus your attention now.”

“Oookay… Here I go”

Tony was not looking at anything in particular, so he closed his eyes to concentrate. The many tests had left him hyper-aware of his own body: every tic, every uneven beat of his heart, every shiver, every drop of sweat, every breath and every spontaneous thought made him jump and go alert again. He was tired; that’s why he had thought nothing of one more strange thought while he joked.

However, now that they had located the anomaly, he could feel the pull of the voice. He let the world slip away and he focused on the feeling. He could hear Bruce mentioning that there was no ice this time, and Jane trying to guess why. Nothing around him mattered any more; there was this thing in his mind and it was just as restless as him. It was not talking, but it was listening intently and Tony was struggling to tell it something harmless. There was only one voice, and it was his own, somehow he knew, the other voice was not … active. Tony decided that he wanted his own voice to answer, so he tried sending something friendly; not exactly words, it was less specific than that, but with the same purpose.

 

Mimir woke up in Loki’s dark bedchamber, startled by the sound of crackling, and he spoke tiredly to prevent the suddenly agitated bennu remains from sparking into a bigger fire. “Loki, your embers are doing strange things again.” But when his eyes acclimated, he saw that Loki was already awake and seemed to have been that way for a while.

The fallen prince had left the embers’ egg’s lid open the night before, next to his bed, to reassure the ashes that nobody was trying to cage them. Mimir had spent the following hours discussing with him the plan for the following days while the embers remained placidly quiet, so this sudden reaction was anybody’s guess. Right in that moment, Loki was sitting upright, draped in the king’s sheets and looking at the fireworks, but not acting; probably Loki’s guess would be more educated than his, then.

“What is wrong?”

Loki didn’t answer immediately, but at least he answered when the embers were less energetic. “Someone is talking to them. Probably the bird.”

“What are they saying?”

“Can you understand what small infants talk about when they are cribbed together?” Loki paused to listen again. “Because that is all I am able to discern now. It is slowly getting intelligible.”

“So, if the bird doesn’t know how to speak with his own free part, he doesn’t remember his past lives.”

“Correct. This is not the whole Bennu. I think this is unadulterated Stark messing with things he does not understand.”

Suddenly there was a tiny burst of pyrotechnics; Loki looked at the embers and laughed.

Tony opened his eyes. He would get a headache for his troubles, he was sure of it. He could see Jane, but Bruce and the SI employee were out of his sight. He talked to her, because talking to thin air was uncomfortable. Jarvis didn’t count, because Jarvis … anyway, Jarvis didn’t count.

“Yes. I still don’t understand how to do this, but this me-voice says that the other voice is there.”

“What else?” Jane prompted.

“Wait … the me-voice is calling for the other voice … it says that the Cupric Prince was asleep and we woke him up. Oh, hey, specific yet cryptic!”

“The Cupric Prince … that is not from Asgard,” she answered. “Thor had me learn everything about the royal family trees, and there is no such prince.”

“Maybe some other race then?” Bruce’s voice carried from the back where the screens showed their progress. Jane shrugged.

“What is it?” asked Mimir.

Loki had turned serious. “Apparently Stark is trying to find ‘the other voice’. That means that he was listening in when I first talked to the ashes; I will have to find a spell to prevent it next time, and I will have to convince the ashes not to tell him who I am.”

“The laughter?” Mimir specified.

“The ashes still call me ‘the Cupric Prince’. The bird did that too, when he talked in fire-language. He did it especially when Odin was around. I was the only one who understood his native language. So he used to concoct lies of the foul things the All-father hid in his beard and behind his eye patch to make me have to try to contain a smile until Odin became angry with him.”

“Why ‘cupric’?”

“Copper salts burn green; it is one of the few metals that can be found in all Nine Realms, is an excellent conductor of multiple energies, and it changes easily. The bird just said that it suited me and made me look up the facts.”

They both looked at the embers, which had an expectant shine about them.

“What are you going to do? Answer?”

“I can hardly keep quiet if I want to mantain a non threatening tone.” 

“The other voice is not going to answer.” Tony rattled his fingers anxiously against the arc reactor and he found that, even knowing that those were not his feelings, it was hard isolating himself from the other thing’s emotions. He could only put on a mask so the others wouldn't notice.

“So … hostile?”

“I’m not sure. Wait. I can …” The other three scientists waited, feeling left out.

“What?”

“Well, my PRs would be proud.”

“What?”

“Look at these readings, Jane.”

“This Cupric Prince says that it is late in the night, and too soon yet, and that we should talk when we know where we stand. Furthermore, he says that I should wait because this link means that we’ll meet anyway, or something like that. The guy apologized for the intrusion and he says that it won’t happen again, which would be nice if I believed him, and I kind of do. Now there is nothing: the me-voice is gone too. What do the readings say?” Tony started to fidget to get rid of the tasteless helmet, helped by the SI employee, who answered before Jane or Bruce.

“That there is nothing strange anymore, sir. At least nothing that we can see, but, shockingly, before everything went quiet there was a very small green cluster active in the broca's area.”

“And what is the meaning of green, then?” Tony went with the guy to the back where the screens displayed the last image of his brain. They all stared.

“No, Mr. Stark, I was not clear enough. The area is important in communication, understanding and linguistics, but there was a new green cluster in the screen of this machine. This model only works in two colors: red and blue. The screen itself is not built to show green. It should be impossible.”

“Wow, I don’t just think of impossible things; two impossible things are in my head. Beat that, Alice!”

“Tony, I think talking to Thor is unavoidable now.”

Tony didn’t answer because Jane was still there, and he could throw her at Thor and maybe get answers back, so he was not going to spoil the chance saying something childish like “no way.”

“I can still avoid it until morning, right?”

Point for the sleep deprived genius! The three scientists looked at different clocks and decided that resting was an acceptable course of action at four in the morning. Tony told the SI employee to send him an e-mail with the records ASAP and let him take the elevator down while they took a different one to their floors.

But there is no rest for the wicked, so there is no rest for the heroes either. When the elevator opened the doors to his penthouse, Tony found an unexpected guest clad in a plain white T-shirt and sport pants.

“JARVIS, is there any reason you didn’t warn me that I had Lethal and Silent waiting for me at this ungodly hour?” Tony said as a greeting.

“You seemed to be ignoring my comments easily, so I assumed that you didn’t need them.”

“Gee, thank you JARVIS. What do you want, Nat?”

“What is wrong with your new reactor?” And Tony didn’t need this conversation right now. What he needed was a bed, a couch or a nice piece of floor, and maybe some silence.

“I don’t have …” But he knew it was useless. He had seen the glint in the spy’s eyes through the screen in the meeting; she knew there was something up. She already knew about the new reactor, but that was unavoidable. She knew something else.

“Yes, you have. You won’t be able to hide it for long.” Of course not: four heroes and Fury against one sleep deprived genius was not a fair fight.

“There are no problems with the reactor.” There. Lying with the truth, he had read that somewhere …

“Then with you.” Why did she have to be clever? He just wanted to sleep.

"I hate when you go all perceptive on me.”

“Asgard is involved, right? Do we need to re-classify their alliance status?”

Tony could not deny that it warmed him right behind his new reactor that a super secret spy was willing to drag her agency to war with aliens if he gave the word. Then again, Natasha had been like a scary older sister since Pepper left. Tony couldn’t exactly forgive the whole fake-identity issue, but she never apologized and he never addressed the issue; they could ignore the problem like adults.

“I know that you are planning to send Jane to lie to Thor, or maybe to interrogate him. It is not going to work. We will need something subtle; she can’t lie, and neither can you.”

“Get out of my brain; it is getting crowded in here.” Some days Natasha's ability to guess plans was amazing, but most days it was just creepy.

Natasha raised a skeptical eyebrow and Tony stayed silent. He had spilled enough secrets in one night; he didn’t want to tell her a damn word. He was not surprised that she had seen his next move, it was only logical, but he didn’t really want her involved.

“We will wake him up one hour earlier than usual to disrupt his sleep and interrogate him in a weakened state. What do we need from him? Plans? Locations? Names? Dates?”

“Wait, Nat.” Okay! He didn’t want to tell Natasha, but if he didn’t she would plan the Earthsgardian War I and win it on her own. “Thor is not a problem. I have had a space worm digging in my brain since this morning … oh God, just this morning. It’s been a weird ass day. I need to eat, probably. When did I eat last?” Then he ignored her and went to the kitchen to find a bowl full of fruit. Quick energy, just what he needed.

“A space worm.” Natasha had followed him into the kitchen to cajole a better answer.

“Well, no. It is two worms. But one is myself and the other is the Cupric Prince or something. And it maybe comes from Godland, but we don’t know shit." He stuffed a strawberry in his mouth. "Oh! And that little prince more or less said that he would come to get me. Jane and Bruce are a hundred percent in. Also, an employee that will get the pay rise of his life as soon as I remember his name.”

“So Odin’s invitation is a ruse.” Tony found a shiny apple, took a bite, and considered it carefully.

“Could be a warning too, but I don’t see Odin as the caring type. I’m not taking any chances.”

“I see. Could it be mind-control?”

“I don’t think so. He, they, it hasn’t asked me to bark and jump off a bridge yet.” It wasn't a negative answer in Natasha's world, but Tony didn't know how to explain it.

“You scanned your brain, right? That’s what you three were doing in the med lab instead of having pizza with the aliens in your tower.” Tony fell silent and stopped chewing for ten whole seconds, trying to remember what aliens had been in this tower and why.

“Yes.” He answered confidently, aware that he was fooling nobody.

“Could you use the scans of mindslaved agents?”

“Maybe …” Just the scans would not be enough, but “… probably …” if there was some kind of analysis attached … “… totally? Why?”

She checked something on her phone. “I could get you some SHIELD records. Physical records.” She didn't meet his eyes.

“As in … not digital? Why would SHIELD have analogical records? That’s ancient, that’s older than … oh! They want me out of their way.” Natasha smiled at her mobile, so they were not even trying to hide it.

“Hmm … and other hacks, yes. You’d have to be infiltrated to access that kind of records.” At that moment, Barton entered the kitchen completely awake, dressed, and smelling of coffee.

“Why did I give you all beds if you are not going to sleep in them?”

The spies ignored him.

“Awake?” Natasha started.

“Nightmare. What was that message about?”

“Tony has a space parasite in his brain,”

“‘Hey, Tony, do you mind if I share your secrets with my boyfriend?’” Tony chanted in a high-pitched voice that was ignored once again. He was joking, but the situation irked him genuinely.

“We want to compare his scans with your scans; Thor and Steve must remain oblivious.”

“Reason?”

“Steve will go to Asgard in a few days; he won’t remain calm if he suspects that they had something to do with this.”

“Thor?”

“He is compromised until we know what the parasite is and where it came from.”

"Asgard?"

"Is not discarded."

“Contagious?”

“Not short-term, no data long-term.”

“Fine.” He took a step back and said to Tony, “Don’t pass me your ugly iron cooties.” Then back to Natasha, “Our records are yours. Warehouse 616, code 3.14, I’m getting rid of that shit in Asgard anyway.” Then the Hawk went back in the direction of the elevators. And right then he was the Hawk, not Clint, there was a difference that Tony and Iron Man didn’t have.

“You know? I only realize how dangerous you are when you enter ‘mission mode’ with Natasha, birdbrain.”

“Was that a compliment?” There went the Hawk, here came the asshole.

“Oh, yes, I must rectify that hmm … the rest of the time you should change your name to Clint-no-hint.”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of your cooties munching on your brain. Tasha, are you going back to bed?”

“There is a mission to outline.”

“Am I going to get any sleep tonight?” Tony whined, looking at the clock that mocked him with luminescent numbers. It said 4:28.

“Your sleep pattern is fucked up anyway, man. See you!” Clint left the floor and Tony focused on the remaining spy.

“What else do we need to plan?”

“I want you to tell me everything. And I want to discuss wiring up the agents going to Asgard.”

“I thought you’d never ask. I was thinking nano-enhanced fabric.”

They spent two productive hours talking. During those two hours Natasha took full advantage of his need for sleep. He would have to check with JARVIS what he had spilled and what he had promised; he hoped it wasn't too terrible. At 6:34 exactly Natasha called Thor and he came out of the elevator looking like his usual storm had met a tornado. Tony went to the kitchen to drown a mug of coffee before the inquisition act.

Natasha spun a perfect lie about one of Tony’s workers having a mental condition linked to Asgard. Essentially the truth, with the subject commuted. Tony explained that he wanted the best for his worker and that he couldn’t go to Asgard in case there was someone waiting to harm said worker.

Clint joined them later: after they had told their lie, but before they could start with the questions. He stayed mostly silent in the back. Tony was not looking directly at him, but he was sure that Clint was playing that Gandalf trick and he was really sleeping with his eyes open instead of listening.

Natasha left them talking about nothing. She wanted to get Jane and Bruce so they could formulate their questions, but she wanted to forewarn them so they wouldn’t step on their lie.

When they sat on the lounge too, Thor started to answer: he had never heard of any Cupric Prince in any realm. His best guess was some head of a sorcerer's society; he didn't think it was linked to Dwarves or to coppers. Mental communication could be done with close relatives or people on sight, but it was easy to some extent, so there were many ways of replicating the spell with a different nature. Cooling things was a Jotun ability which could be achieved by some elemental mages too, but it could not be sent from a different realm. The mage/Jotun and the target had to be close, even touching. Internal heat was common, but not to the point of melting-breath; only creatures from Muspelheim, dragons and several elemental spirits could achieve that.

Thor answered with a wary attitude, even to Jane, who was just asking what kind of magic could be maintained long-distance. Tony took the opportunity to ask Natasha.

“Nat. What is birdie doing, hovering there like that?”

“Worried. Obviously.” Natasha looked him in the eye like it was obvious and he was being obtuse on purpose.

Tony was really glad of being able to ask, because he wouldn’t have labeled that look as ‘worry’ in a thousand years. More like … he looked kind of pissed off.

“Worried?”

“Of course, he has had his brain mudded before. You think he’d learn that you have something vaguely similar and stay put?”

“Oh.”

Then Thor excused himself. He looked hurt and they managed to retain him enough to explain his mood. Apparently, their questions and the way they were formulating them reminded him of his brother: the same inquisitive nature as when he was starting to learn magic and the same subtle but obstinate phrasing. He started to tell them that his brother would have enjoyed having people like them when he was young, but he stood up mid-sentence and went for the balcony. Jane went after him at the same time as Steve came in through the elevators.

“I asked JARVIS and he told me that you were all here. Is there a meeting I’m not aware of?” Tony could feel the guilt building up, but Clint spoke just in time.

“Nah, Steve, relax. Funny coincidence. We couldn’t sleep and people just joined the morning party.”

“Great! Avengers plus one, let’s assemble for breakfast!” Tony clapped his hands and stood up. Any excuse for more coffee right now was a perfect excuse.

“I made idlis. I could bring them up and we can have breakfast together, if Tony doesn’t mind us invading his floor.”

“Tony doesn’t mind. He will need help getting enough mugs, tho.”

“I will help him if he stops using the third person,” Natasha said standing up.

“He will not stop if Natasha plays along.” Tony smiled back at her.

“He will not stop if he thinks he is being funny,” countered Clint.

“Or annoying,” added Bruce before his elevator closed.

“Hey! Hey! He is here!” Tony protested from the kitchen. He heard Thor and Jane coming back in and sitting down.

“I don’t think so. He would have spoken for himself if he was.” Clint was oddly talkative after such a silent morning. “Anyway, he sounds stupid like Doom.”

“No, I don’t!”

They had their breakfast together, but Tony was exhausted. Caffeine was not enough to keep him running anymore; he had spent the last day doing tests and he might have something toxic and alien soaking his synapses. However, he felt unusually happy, almost safe. Each of the heroes (Jane counted as a heroine, never mind SHIELD's status) had shown in their way that they would help him in the direst situations. Even Steve could not be trusted with this because he would defend him in front of all of Asgard. Tony could even forget any resentment about the Mandarin incident for the time being. He wished that it would stay the same forever and swiftly wondered if thinking could jinx something.

Tony could go on for days, but when his body said enough, there was no way to fight it. And his body had been saying enough since the med bay. It was not that strange; the voices of the group had lulled him to sleep right there. Nobody noticed until the first silence, when nobody fought to fill it with an inappropriate comment.

“How long has he been awake this time anyway?” Clint wondered.

“96 hours not counting the hour nap he had 78 hours ago.” Everyone looked up and made a mental note to lock the stupid fool in his room next time he tried to pull something like this. They lowered their voices. Nobody took him to his room this time, though; having him close and guarded took priority over a crick next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I won't let my finals get in the way this week! *shakes fist*)


	5. Edges of Endurance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many plans, three worrying e-mails, an unexpected journey, and a poisoning; not necessarily in that order.

The ashes had looked dead since the last time Loki had talked to them. They were not, but that's the impression they gave off as they were; curled into themselves with the coldest grey part of the ashes blanketing the rest so the light of the embers didn't escape. Mimir could see the distortion of the air right over them; it meant that the embers were still alive and heating. However, they were not moving and, apparently, were actively avoiding communication. Mimir was apprehensive of the meaning of such a reaction.

“What happened, Loki?”

Loki looked up from the scrolls he was signing looking for the source of Mimir's question. “I muted the bond and they don’t like it. Not important. Focus on the relevant work for now. Did you dream about the magic users?”

Mimir decided to ask further later. After all, the ashes were not going to go anywhere and they had a long day ahead of them. “Yes. There are twenty-eight magic users working on spells related to our requirements; barely eighteen worthy of mention. Twelve who speak something understandable and could make it to Asgard in three days time. The most interesting are four sorceresses from Asgard, two mages, three elementals, one warlock, one wizard and two difficult to sort.”

“Give me the names of all twenty-eight in order of relevance. Odin will invite them and we will see who comes.”

Mimir watched him work and didn’t ask the trickster how he could forge Odin’s sigil mark so easily. He had suspected Loki could do so since he was barely a boy who wanted to go to visit the Vanir against Odin’s advice. He was far more concerned about the nature of their plan … plans … web of plans … their convoluted strategy.

“Do you think this will work?” he asked once again.

“I don’t need them to give me a fully woven spell, I just need their theories.” Loki picked a new piece of scroll to write down names, locations and everything Mimir had gathered in a single night’s sleep. “Lock them in a room for long enough and they might even do most of the work for us.”

Loki and Mimir had already discussed it last night: once the collected magic-users realized that they were all working on pieces of a reality-warp spell, they would work together in the same direction. At least they would if Loki were there to smooth-talk them into adjusting  their individual goals. It would not be an easy feat; traditionally, magic wielders avoided company in most of the Realms, as a defense mechanism. Mimir told him about the other magic users and where to find them, Loki diligently took dictation, but they were interrupted before they were finished.

“Your majesty.” It was a young girl who didn’t knock, didn’t wait, and didn’t doubt opening the door. Loki, who had taken to keeping the disguise at all times, recognized her; she had taken up the chores of her father when he had been sent to the kitchens, so she had been in the personal service of Odin for some time now. Girls like her were so common and unimportant that nobody cared if they knocked or not. Loki was not well liked among that kind of people, but in his younger years he had pretended to be one of them for long enough to know, understand, and never forget them easily. “The Warriors Three are here to report.”

“Good. Lys, tell them to enter one by one and tell your parents that I want to see them later.”

The little girl bustled away and the warriors came to tell three accounts of their trip to Midgard as different as each of the Realms. Mimir thought that this was a waste of time: in his opinion they all said essentially the same thing, but Loki was analyzing each report with the utmost care.

Apparently, the main pieces of their chess board would come to the grand gathering. Meanwhile, the Berserker would stay with the Widow on earth, which was very good news, but the fire bird would stay behind with them too. That would have been bad news if it had been their only chance to meet the bird, but it was not. Mimir did not imagine the minute sigh of relief from Loki, and he could not blame him, because the only word to describe his plan was _baroque_. Having the bird removed from the equation could only be a change for the better. There were so many small details to organize that trying to control everything was akin to orchestrating utter chaos. His not-majesty’s morning was solid proof of it.

After the warriors, Loki-Odin received Lady Sif, who came to inform him of Amora’s capture. Loki had to intercede because she had been isolated, not given food, water or, most importantly, _guards_. He sent Sif through the Bifrost on an urgent mission to retrieve female soldiers from the dwarf or elven troops. He would have to deal with their generals later, or never, never would have been fine too.

At noon, Gropius came by to discuss the construction plans. Loki included several buildings that would be useful for him in a distant future; he designed a network (more like a labyrinth) of underground ways to 'protect Asgard' in case of siege. Then he spent far too long convincing the master builder of the uselessness of the memorial. The man was determined, but his moniker was not Silvertongue for nothing.

Then Lys’s parents came and he informed them of the measures and arrangements that would have to be ready in three days regarding feasts and accommodations. Several more servants came for similar reasons, because the golden city would have to be prepared for the influx of strangers, and the Giants from various locations would need extra preparations. The other races would have special needs too, and the magic users would have to be sheltered from the common folks’ scorn. Also, he had to make sure that certain particulars would have their rooms to their liking if he wanted to buy their favor.

After that, it was time for the emissaries from the Nine Realms and the ones from the strong neutral forces. He received every single one of them in the antechamber of Odin’s rooms, where confidences wouldn’t be shared with the throne room at large and lies could be slipped in unsuspecting ears with the pretense of private conversation. Whatever means necessary for the plan to work would do. Everyone would have to be there in two days time; he could not have it any different because there would not be a second chance.

After sending his own couriers to summon the magic users he saw a horn of ale and a dish of torsk had been left on his desk and he realized that it was very late. Some of the servants must have noticed his absence from the feast hall and brought him sustenance. People wouldn’t like that their king was absent, but it wouldn’t matter in just a few days.

There was a pounding on the door just as he dismissed the last courier and Lady Sif came in with two other warriors he didn’t recognize. He sent them to Amora’s cell and he sailed Sif’s accusations easily.

“With all due respect, your majesty, I think you are relying too much in magic and foreign forces as of late,” she had said.

Loki had learnt to dismiss that kind of comment with three answers: “Things must be done before Prince Thor comes back,” “I’m merely following the wishes I could not grant my wife in life,” and the one that worked wonders in every argument: “I must compensate the evil deeds that Loki left behind.” Of course, this time it worked too, and Sif left, not wanting to get involved in court affairs.

Loki just sat down and drank from the horn, waiting for the answers from the magic users. He looked tired but calm, as if Lady Sif’s comments were just passing gossip. Mimir saw it as it was: suspicion was blooming. Loki was not being subtle anymore, daring to act where the real Odin would have stayed passive and ignoring matters that Odin would have taken into his own hands. There was something wrong with that attitude and Mimir wanted to know why he was acting so hastily. He asked with the boldness of the one who knows to expect answers instead of a beheading, and Loki answered without considering that option.

“It is because I do not care at all.” There was honesty in his lost expression. “In two days, three at most, everything will be over and this realm will not be my concern. I can risk as much as I want, and I cannot stand this much longer.”

“This? What do you mean by ‘This’?” Mimir saw Loki walk to the balcony.

“I’m slowly dying in someone else’s skin. I have done what had to be done for a long time. I’ve been trapped by royal duties, by Chitauri scum, by my own survival plots, and now by royal duties and self preservation. I’ve been cautious and I’ve been hurt. I need to be myself again; at least, I need to find someone to be.”

Loki was not looking at the landscape, and he had not looked Mimir  in the eye since he started to speak; he was looking at the floor. Mimir was not sure, but he thought that his breathing was labored. “Loki….”

“I have spent far too long hiding behind proper behavior. I have been the second prince, the unwanted king, Thanos’ puppet, the martyr, and Odin. I have not had time to be aught but another’s  whims. I want this last threat to my freedom erased.”

Mimir was nearly sure that Loki was not breathing during his tirade; he was blanching and he was still looking at the floor. “Loki?”

“I want the free will of the prince I was and the power of the king. I want to be the trickster and the silvertongue, but also the skywalker. I was all of that. I can’t remember why I decided that kingship was more important. I want to be the one I was before knowing who I was. I know that I can still be Loki, even being a Frost Giant I am a god. I need to leave everything behind … everything.”

“LOKI!” Loki had collapsed, but he was gasping his monologue on the floor. Mimir couldn’t help; he couldn’t _run_ for help, he couldn’t _call_ for help….

“Maybe everyone was right and my birthright was never the path of royalty, but Odin was wrong, wrong; neither was death my final destiny. A stolen relic, all my life, in a golden cage …” he muttered in a withering voice while Mimir kept shouting his name. “I am more than a king, more than death. I … I’m …”

“LOKI! Snap out of it! Loki!”

“… poisoned!” Loki said suddenly dropping Odin’s disguise. He started panting, and coughing, but Mimir considered it an improvement over not breathing at all. “It was in the ale …” he said in a small voice in between lungfuls of air.

“But you have servants who taste the food for you,” Mimir remembered, trying to keep calm. He saw Loki, sprawled on the floor as he was, make the doors lock with a flourish of his hand.

“It was keyed to … attack Odin … the testers … will be … fine. I can’t THINK!” Loki said with a new fit of coughs. “Too fast.”

“But you are not Odin.” Mimir didn’t know how to help, but keeping a person awake and conscious seemed like a good start.

“No … but the shape … that’s enough…. I’ll rid myself of the toxin … in my shape.”

“Who could have done it?” Loki glared at him; he just wanted to recover his breath in silence, but Mimir was too nervous to notice.

“I can’t … I don’t know … everybody … Odin is not … well liked,” Loki answered defensively. “I usually check … but today I was….” Loki trailed off, and Mimir could see that even if the poison was not killing him anymore, it was clouding his thoughts. If someone came with an ill intent, Loki wouldn’t be able to fend them off. Although, who knew, Loki had fended off plenty of enemies before, and in worse conditions too. Mimir stayed blissfully quiet, watching Loki’s chest rise and fall until it resembled a normal motion again.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I … yes. It won’t affect me in this skin, but I won’t be able to be Odin until tomorrow, when the toxins are not active. Tyr, Idunn, and the courier from the night elves will have to wait until then.” Loki waited a few seconds. “Disregard everything I said. It was the poison speaking.”

Loki had to decide if he was going to let the plot against Odin continue. He didn’t have the time to deal with finding the culprits personally, but he could prevent Odin’s next assassination attempt. Keeping Odin alive was necessary, at least until Thanos was obliterated. Nobody could cajole the other Realms to war quite like him.

In the end, Loki sent the ale and the dish to the healers with a well-aimed spell and a note explaining the situation. They would take care of it. For the moment, Loki reverted to polishing his plan with Mimir until the toxins disappeared.

Meanwhile, on Earth, a number of e-mails were being delivered. Some of them were harmless, most of them were worrying, and all of them were putting in motion the plan that would lead the humans to Asgard.

The first worrying e-mail was sent by a Doctor Wolman and Tony had no idea of why said doctor had his address until he read the contents and attachments. Had JARVIS not called his attention to it, he would have ignored it completely.

 

 

> _Sir, I have superimposed the compilation of yesterday brain readings on each other. We couldn’t see it in any single image, but I’ve noticed black areas in your brain that never light up. Not tumors or dead cells, I’ve checked with the MRI readings, just inactive cells lying dormant. As you can see in the attachment, the dormant areas have a very clear delineation, almost surgical. I have not been able to match the dark patterns to anything known._
> 
> _I can’t extract any conclusion, since you three mentioned magic. If it were the image of a regular non-magic brain I would assume it was some strange case of partial brain death or some unknown mental illness._
> 
> _Dr. Wolman_

First, Tony had to admire the adaptability of people. “Magic” was not an easy concept to admit, but humans were accepting it quite easily since New York. People were growing desensitized to terms like “magic signature,” “spell,” and “interplanetary travel.” Of course, centuries of science-fiction and fantasy had prepared many citizens to expect a zombie apocalypse, but a scientist accepting readily that his boss had magic in his brain was something else.

Maybe he was analyzing trivial human traits for fun, maybe he was avoiding the imminent freak out because half of his brain was shut down. He sent the attachment to Bruce and Jane numbly and then he had JARVIS check his old readings, the ones from a car-crash a few years ago, and he confirmed that this was not new. He could not blame it to his internal heater, to the ice or to the voices.

He considered alcohol and drugs having done some lasting damage, but JARVIS dug deeper for him and they found the results for some Mensa-like test that Howard had put him through as soon as he could hold a pen. Howard had used the occasion to put his son through every test invented at the moment too.

The records were not from the same kind of modern machine that they used now, but Howard’s instruments were the best of their time, so it was a close thing. Apparently, Tony had lived with parts of his memories, behaviors, and some gray areas shut down all his life without anyone noticing. And still he had managed to be a genius. It would have been awesome and a massive ego-stroke, but he had a part worth a Dumm-e shut down in his brain. He had spent hours reading up on neuroscience, and the off parts of his brain were the equivalent of some of his AIs. It was not dead, but it was not working; was it empty? Merely blocked?

Bruce came by during the morning to help and show support; Jane called at noon and promised to work on it once his samples were sorted. When both turned their backs, Tony was intrigued enough to try some tests regarding synapses, needles, low voltage, a dictionary, and the risk of permanent brain damage. However, Natasha dropped in as his savior to distract him with the nanotechnology he had promised to install in the space-traveler-agents. It almost felt as if she had known that he was going to do something reckless. Creepy.

After Natasha’s intrusion, everything went back to normal and Tony ignored his faulty brain in favor of helping prepare for the invasion of Asgard. By the way, he was not allowed to call it “invasion” after a nasty incident with Thor, but nobody could control how he named his files or what he put on his designs. Of course, telling Tony not to do something resulted in T-shirts which now had Space Invaders screenprinted much bigger than the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo, and it was that or going techless.

Despite Fury’s hissy fit, the production of the nano-enhanced clothes kept going well, cameras were being installed on the front and the back, microphones were being added at the shoulders, and each T-shirt had a different instrument to measure as much of the Golden Realm as possible. Everything was perfect until the next day, when Tony received the next worrying e-mail. Jane wanted to see him in the lab he had given to her to investigate the residual energy the Chitauri’s offensive had left behind. Bruce had offered to help with that, since radiation was his area, but he and Jane had not found the time to work together yet. Tony was sure that after a month of those two working together, he would have the blueprints of an interstellar travelling device. But this visit to her lab could not be that yet, and it couldn’t be good or she wouldn’t have been so cryptic about it.

When he arrived, Darcy and Jane were having a heated discussion over privacy. Jane wanted to tell Tony the results; Darcy wanted to stay and listen in. Tony tried to go for a compromise where Jane told him the results in private and Darcy came in if he allowed it. Darcy decided that she would get a Starkpad new model if she was not invited to the party and Tony didn’t see anything wrong with that, despite Jane muttering how that was bribery.

Then Jane set the scene to drop the bomb: she sat him at a messy desk and left the results open in front of him, as if she wanted his opinion, which he couldn’t give, because he had no idea of what he was looking at. In fact, were those _runes_?

“I don’t know how to explain this, Tony,” she started, sounding doubtful.

“You are the second person to say something like that in the last days. I don’t like it.”

“Fine, yes, the e-mail, I have not had time to go through that,” she said offhandedly.  “Look, Bruce gave me your samples, but first let me show you this.” She slipped four sheets of paper to him. “These are our analysis, my baseline study for this. This one is mine, this one is Darcy’s, this one is Selvig’s …” She put the fourth sheet apart. “… and this one is Thor’s.”

Tony read over the three sheets on his right, all of them showing a 100% atomic resonance to Earth’s wavelength on the highlighted column. Then he read over Thor’s and it showed a 100% resonance to Asgard.

“The atomic resonance is different in every Realm. I think it represents, among other things, the relative distance to the ever-expanding centre of the universe. It is not affected by magic as far as I know. See Selvig’s?” Then she pushed a new sheet to him. “This one is Mjolnir’s.”

“How did you get a sample of that? Isn’t the hammer indestructible?”

“Don’t ask, it was a nightmare.”

Tony read over the new sheet. This one had a 89% resonance to Asgard and a 10% resonance to somewhere called Nidavellir. The last 1% was unknown.

“The hammer is made of Asgardian uru, but it was forged by the dwarves, in their realm, with the help of a dying star from who knows where.”

“I’m guessing particles got stuck in the process. Silly dwarves can’t make it pure, an 11% of impurity is quite high, you know?”

“No, it’s not that. The hammer is pure uru, but the exposure during the forging gave the particles of uru the wavelength of the dwarves. The spells don’t show here either.”

“And this one is mine, then,” Tony said, digging the first sheets from under the new ones. “But this can’t be right.”

“I’ve tried it several times. I’ve tried comparing it to Steve, Bruce and Pepper, to see if radiation or a serum could change the results. They are all 100% from Earth. Oh, and be a dear and don’t tell them, they don’t know.” Tony was hearing, so he waved his hand in dismissal, however, Tony was not listening.

“I crossed a portal, that could …”

“Let me stop you there. I’ve been to several realms, crossed several portals and been injected with alien ether. My readings show a 100% Earth. There might be traces from Svatalheim, but nothing worthy of mention, not even a 0.00001%. I tried the Chitauri too: they are a nomad civilization, so they show the resonance of the place where they were born, each one a different resonance, but all of them a 100% validation.” Jane stopped to contemplate something. “Don’t tell S.H.I.E.L.D. about that one either.”

“Then what the hell are my results?”

Tony dropped the sheet that said that he was an unbelievable mixture. (Specifically, the long list went like this: 25% Muspelheim, 15% Nilfhiem, 9% Midgard, 7% Asgard, 7% Nidavellir, 5% Svatalheim, 5% Alfheim, 4% Vanaheim and an astounding 23% unknown.)

“Technically, you are from Muspelheim, but you have been forged in Nilfhiem, forged again in several other places, and then more.”

“Ok, let’s imagine that Iron Man is just a name and that I can’t be forged. I have two questions: one, why am I more Muspelwhatever than human? And two: how did I get contaminated? Because I am human, I don’t have weird superpowers, I’m not adopted and if I am Howard hid it very convincingly. I remember my childhood with an awful accuracy; I don’t have a memory loss …” He was not going to connect his brain damage with this, he was NOT.

“I have no idea, Tony. I’m just giving you facts. It’s either that, or considering the possibility that you have been rebuilt with lethal doses of alien materials. The only mixtures I’ve seen so far are due to a change of state or shape, which occurred in a different realm than the original birth or creation. I have not seen enough aliens to know if this is normal or not. It could be just some anomaly related to your DNA; I have no way of knowing yet.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, because this could not be happening to him. His journey to self-discovery had to be a fucking space saga now? His mind made a U-turn in denial, and he remembered Darcy waiting at the door.

“JARVIS, tell Darcy to pick up a pad from the penthouse. Before she takes it, fill it with the filthiest porn you can find, ok?” Tony was feeling petty, but it was not as if Darcy had never tried to pull one over on him.

“From your personal files, sir?”

“We don’t want to scar the girl for life, smartass.”

Jane was not a Stark expert, but despite the small exchange, she could see that Tony was uncomfortable with the new information, so she offered him an out. They talked about the preparations for the trip, about their teleportation project that could use a little Bruce now that they knew each other better, about the clothes the agents would wear, about Thor, about the company … and they ignored the issue at hand. Tony would want to know more when he was feeling less disbelieving, which was why she had sent him her whole report via e-mail.

Only a few minutes earlier, a different worrying e-mail found its way past some clever security measures from Stark Industries. It didn’t reach Tony’s inbox, but it was going to be the reason Tony considered the existence of non-alien gods and their twisted sense of humor a few days later.

When the day of the departure came, on the agreed morning, Tony, Natasha and Bruce were at the park where they had once said their farewells to the deceased would-be-conqueror of Earth and his brother. This time they were hovering over the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, monitoring the nano-enhanced clothes, and checking that everything worked.

The group of people congregated who had been touched by the scepter was quite big, but Steve was herding everyone with ease. On the side, Maria, Clint, and Fury were sharing last minute orders and Thor, Jane, and Selvig were in their own little bubble of VIPs who knew more about the Nine Realms than was probably healthy, at least in Selvig’s case.

Tony was very, very relieved; his decision not to go off-planet had been the right one, even if he hadn't known the bad news then. The sudden revelations had been demanding, and he didn’t think he would have been able to handle Odin right now. Sometimes he wished that the voice had stayed; it could have been a very fine source of information, since talking to Thor had been an enjoyable waste of time.

The genius had been thinking about the two new pieces in the puzzle of his life. In fact, he had reached the awkward point where options that would have seemed crazy some years ago were plausible: time-travel, alien abduction, his parents making a space trip during their honeymoon, or him not being human at all. Saying that he was confused would be the understatement of the century.

He had brought his suit to the park, not because he thought he would need it, but because he wanted a reminder of who he was, never mind the inconclusive results. Fury had taken precautions so they wouldn't need the suit or any other superhuman help; the park had been evacuated hours ago and now it was heavily guarded. Furthermore, there were patrols in the streets to check that no villains were going to ruin their little picnic.

At that moment, Tony saw a redhead among the group, sharply dressed, wearing sunglasses and carrying a duffel bag. He cursed under his breath when he saw her making a beeline towards Fury and he decided that it was his business, even though he didn’t want to cross paths with his CEO. That’s why she was _supposed_ to be a hundred thousand miles away having fun under the sun. What was she doing here, talking to Fury?

“Dear Ms. Potts, I thought you were on vacation,” Tony said with a bright smile and a heavy heart.

“I was,” she seemed sympathetic enough; she didn’t fool Tony. She was not a happy camper. “But Fury contacted me. Apparently someone was needed somewhere else, but he was too pigheaded to call me for help.”

“There is someone to take care of your company now, Stark, so take your old reactor and go with the others.” Tony glared daggers at the director, who took Pepper’s duffel bag and thrust it into Tony’s arms. Then Tony transferred his glare to the bag, not moving his arms to take it. They had _dared_ to go to his lab, rummage through his things, and take his old reactor from him.

“Is your hearing as deficient as your sight? I said I wouldn’t go and I won’t go.”

“Stop being a child.” Fury let the duffel bag fall and Tony grabbed it reflexively. It was his old reactor. Nobody touched his stuff; there would be hell to pay for this.

“I’m not being a child, I’m avoiding running into this guy’s trap. I thought you would appreciate it,” he said, pretending that it was not affecting him. “You know, the whole ‘don’t run towards danger’ spiel that you keep trying to drill in my forehead each time we come from a mission.”

“You mentioned having nightmares.”

“I don’t remember mentioning it to your meddling agency,” Tony interrupted.

“You are going, Stark.”

Tony smirked, convinced that regardless of Fury’s wishes he had won. “I already rejected my invitation, remember? In front of the three Rohan envoys. Such a shame.” The AllDaddy wouldn’t accept that breach in protocol, right?

“Heimdall can still open the Bifrost for one more traveler if I ask,” Thor said, coming uninvited from out of the blue. He was not the only one; people had started to pay attention to their argument. Behind them, someone was counting backwards. Bruce was busy reading this or that monitor, but Natasha was watching the whole thing with a diminutive frown. It made Tony trust her a bit more, because she was as surprised as he was and she was letting him know from afar; otherwise, she would have had her regular poker face.

“What is going on here?” Pepper chided, this time directing her reproach face to Fury. Okay, she had seemed a bit cold, but also fondly exasperated with Tony. Now her cold smile could have frozen the tropics. Tony conceded a couple of brownie points to her for siding with him so quickly and he decided to explain.

“Fury lied and he used you. In my opinion, Odin is setting a trap, but Mr. Pirate here wants me to go, even though it is not a mission, there is nobody in danger, and it wouldn’t be a diplomatic disaster or anything, because I’m not the only one not going.”

“There is nothing to be done now, and there is no time. You are the one with nightmares who could have been touched by that freaky stick in some stupid way.”

“I have more reasons to stay.”

“Fat chance, you should have shared them before.”

“I said that I didn’t want to go, you don't need more, and I didn’t explain because it is not your goddamned business. I don’t want any of your filthy fingers in more of my pies.”

“Stark! You will go to that planet and you will…”

Fury didn’t finish because there was no Stark to shout at. The group of agents and the other Avengers were gone too; the only one left was Ms. Potts, who was giving him a level look while agent Romanoff and Doctor Banner rushed there too.

“Fury, where is Tony?”  Banner asked, going a weird mixture of paler and greener.

“In Asgard, I hope.”

“Sir, I sent a report detailing the real reason Stark could not leave,” Natasha said evenly.

"And I read it, agent 

Romanoff, but he will be back to his suspiciously anonymous employee soon enough. For now, Banner and you should be all the protection this, probably invented, guy needs.”

“Sir, the threat is real. I kept the name out of the report for security reasons.”

“Well, then you’d better keep an eye on him.”

Natasha kept quiet. Her best option was silence; Bruce seemed to think the same. Pepper, however, was not feeling as cautious; she had donned her business shark smile.

“Consider any funding from Stark Industries cancelled, Director Fury; there will be further words regarding Stark’s ‘consultant’ contract.” She turned to Natasha. “Would you mind explaining what is going on? It seems I’ve been misinformed.”

The spy left with the CEO, repeating the official lie. She liked the woman, but she was not going to stab Tony in the back by telling the truth to his ex-girlfriend. The breakup had messed Tony up far more than Pepper; Natasha suspected that Tony had thought Pepper would be his only chance; he had given up a lot about himself to meet her expectations, or what he thought her expectations were. During the last month before Pepper’s vacation, both had been able to work together again, but the breach between them was far from being healed.

The CEO’s vacations had been a great idea, in Natasha’s opinion. Sending her with Happy had been a very bad decision, but that was none of her business. Then again, talking with Pepper now, it was obvious that she was worried and annoyed as any friend would be, as well as hurt for having been used against Tony. Yes, Natasha could still consider Pepper a friend, despite the break up and despite siding up with Tony because he was far more vulnerable.

However, like all the Avengers, Tony was used to being slightly broken. Natasha was sure that everything would be all right as soon as they got the billionaire back. And she hoped for everyone’s sake that he would be back soon and untouched. Natasha looked back to see Bruce, who sent Fury a dirty look and went back with the agents to keep the Other Guy away from the surface. If Bruce was already planning a rescue mission, he would need Natasha’s help, but if Tony didn’t come back, they would find a way to go there, even if they had to break into Jane’s laboratory and finish her studies. There wouldn’t be a second Mandarin, they would make sure of that.

Next to Bruce, all the remaining agents lingered for a while, but there was not much to do; the recording devices didn’t work from who-knows-how-many light-years away. They would have to wait to have something to work on until the away team came back. Later, most of the agents went home or joined the patrol efforts to ensure that there would be a city to welcome the travelers back.

Fury straightened his trench coat and walked away, wondering why all those idiots were against him when he had only wanted to avoid a repeat of the reactor poisoning nightmare. Tony had pretended to be fine then too. Next time he would let the fucker self-destruct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the bookmarks, subscriptions, kudos and comments; especially the comments. You keep me witting. I love the squealing, the wondering and the criticism, even if I don't have the time for revision and editing right now. I have the main plot outlined, but feel free to comment with theories or headcanons.


	6. Swaying Alliances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's plans suffer a trivial change and there is only one to blame.

The sun was rising over Asgard; it was a cloudless day, as most mornings were since Thor had left for Midgard. Loki and Mimir were already up, sitting on the throne and talking. They had not slept much. Loki had spent the night trying to convince the embers to be patient, something that the original Bennu never was, and he had finally been able to contain them with the promise of taking the muting spell away from the bond.

“Why do the ashes want to go back to the Bennu, anyway? Are they not boundless like this?” Mimir had asked when Loki banished the closed egg in the pocket dimension where he hid the Casket, the Sword, the Gauntlet, the Stones, and other valuables of times forgotten. Lately, the Tesseract had joined his personal vault too, and there was a particular cape that would be added to the collection as soon as he had access to Freja’s quarters.

“These ashes are too hot to be contained. The ashes of a Fire Bird should burn through the soil until they reach the core of their nest, which sometimes comprises whole planets. I think these know that this is not the bird’s nest anymore.”

“You said that you never knew the Bennu well. Why do you know all that?” Mimir wondered.

“I didn’t know him, his name or his history. I never asked; I was busy. He was Odin’s consultant, not even my tutor, like you, and never my friend,” he spat the word. “All I know this about his species, I know because I asked him once, but all this information could be a lie or a joke.”

“He answered? Willingly?” Mimir sounded far too shocked for Loki’s liking.

“I was the prince then, of course he answered,” Loki didn’t let his annoyance show. Why was it so hard to believe that someone obeyed him?

“Odin was the king and he had to pull answers out of the bird like he was fighting the Norns for each answer,” Mimir looked up, as if remembering. “The bird deflected the queen’s polite questions most of the time too. And to me … he never even told me the real name of his species; I had to keep calling him Bennu until he left because it was the closest thing I could think of.”

“He was trying to be distracting when he told me,” Loki said promptly; “don’t read too much into it. I can see what you are thinking and you are wrong. I was in hiding when he found me, or when I found him.”

“That sounds like a story,” Mimir taunted. Loki arched a regal eyebrow, accepting the challenge.

“It was after you stopped being my tutor. I had shape-shifted into a woman so the elder mages would teach me the ways of seidr, but they found me stealing books and I had to run. I went into the woods and I climbed up the highest tree I could find. He was perched on the opposite tree, proving once again that there were no cages for him. I had broken my arm in my haste and the old witches were still looking for me; he told me tales so I wouldn’t cry and give us away or run back to the healers and be found anyway.”

“That is nice,” Mimir said with a knowing smile.

“It is not. He just wanted a child to escape his teachers; you know he liked that.”

“I think he liked more than that.”

“I told you not to think in that direction. I’m not looking for a new father, or an older brother, or a confidant, if that is what you are suggesting. I’ve gone through enough pains to be where I am.”

“I’m suggesting exactly nothing, and having much fun seeing you struggle with my nothing,” Mimir laughed.

“If I didn’t need you,” Loki sat straighter and glared at him, “I’d pull your hairs one by one, including your eyelashes. If fact, I don’t really need your hair. ”

Mimir was not afraid; he had seen Loki really angry, and this was not it, but he changed topics, looking around them. “Why are we still alone?”

“I’m not sure.” Loki checked his mental schedule. Thor should have come first with his humans; Loki had told the servants to take them to their quarters. The Fire Giants should have come next; the magic users would come whenever they pleased, as always; the Faes and the Elves should be in their quarters by now too. It was still early, but the independent forces, the small kings from the neutral kingdoms, should have come by now if they wanted to be discrete.

Loki stood up and walked a long way to the enormous doors of the throne room. He opened the golden doors and he addressed the first passing servant.

“Boy, where are my guests?” he asked authoritatively.

The young servant was fuming and he didn’t realize it was Odin asking “Out! Clogging the main doors! Pretentious barbarians, the lot of them! They don’t obey when we ask them to go to their chambers on Odin’s orders. Unruly beasts from the Eight! That’s all they are!” Then he left without as much as a goodbye.

The guards on either side of the door stayed stoically still, and Loki took the hall to the main doors. He wanted to know what the boy had meant by that, but he knew that Odin would be a terrible choice of shape to spy his guests. In order to meld with the group, he changed shapes on his way to the entrance; it was an old shape that he had barely used twice when he was younger, and never on Asgard.

“Mimir, bye,” Loki deadpanned, opening his pocket dimension; he could not be seen with Mimir, nor with the same helmet as Odin.

“Not the pocket!” Mimir pleaded, exasperated.

“Do not antagonize me next time.” And with that he was blissfully alone again.

Loki watched his reflection in the golden walls. He always changed the shape and colour of his eyes first, a lesson quickly learnt when his particular green got him into trouble in some of his early ventures. Red hair would be useful too: Elves would think that he was Aesir, Aesir would think that he was a Fae, and Faes wouldn’t care at all. All the better to go unnoticed. He also appeared too young to be one of the kings and too old to be the son of any of the envoys. Paradoxically, nobody would question his heritage this time.

He looked ahead again. Something was causing a ruckus at the end of the hall, and he intended to see first-hand what was wreaking his plans. He reached the top of the stairs and he saw that nobody had obeyed, just as the boy had said. Nobody. That had never happened to the real Allfather; why did it have to happen to him? Were they revolting? Loki walked down the stairs, hoping it would turn out to be something less violent than a revolution, and at the least not very time-consuming.

He could think of several explanations; the humans were supposed to come first to avoid just this. There had not been many humans wandering the Realms in the last centuries, and Odin’s ban had kept everyone away from Midgard. Some curiosity was expected; it was probably their fault that everyone was disobeying.

However, as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he watched closely and he noticed a well-behaved group apart from the mass; it was formed by most of the humans. Not Thor, though, nor his human, just the ones touched by the scepter and the blond hero, watching over them like a guardian dog. Nobody seemed to be paying them any special attention.

Where was Thor? Thor was supposed to be protective over his little humans, to keep them away from everybody else. But there was so much more wrong with the whole picture, beyond Thor’s absence. The ambassadors were supposed to be wary and hating each other; the magic users were supposed to be untrusting; the servants were supposed to be somewhere, yet they were nowhere to be seen; and the guests were scattered around talking to each other. That was the reason he had set their quarters at different isolated wings; so they wouldn’t even have to meet in the halls.

Then why the Norns was everybody conversing as if thousands of years of clash and conflict had never happened? Loki could not believe it, so he didn’t; they were all trained to be spies if it was required of them. They had to be faking it, the affability, and there had to be a reason for this nonsense. He dived into the mass of creatures and caught snippets of conversation, some relevant and some not so much. A delegate from Muspelheim was debating how to murder Odin in the fire language, unaware of Loki just behind him. So that was where the poison had come from … or maybe not. There were a couple of huldras in the corner, and they looked suspicious too, but they could be trying to hide their vile backs from the public view, against the wall; so it proved nothing.

Loki was distracted by a booming laugh coming from the middle of the crowd. It was a very distinctive laugh; he pushed his way through in search of Thor, feeling the wrong size because of the many giants and midgets in the room. When he reached the center, Thor looked happy and confused; normal for him, then. He had a resigned look too, and that was new, because Thor always got what he wanted; he didn’t resign himself.

He had an arm draped across his human woman, with the Warriors Three ranged  behind him and Sif on his left, looking sour. Maybe that was the reason the group of humans had clogged the entry. Maybe they were waiting for Thor and the woman.

“That is true, friends! I have witnessed it many times,” Thor said, looking around, but at nobody in particular. Loki elbowed his way to the front line of the group.

“What about elves?” Sounded a melodic — obviously fae-enchanted — voice. Loki diverted his look to the young Elf who had spoken and who was wrapped … around Tony Stark. That … was not possible; he was not supposed to be there.

Loki needed to talk to the Muspelheim expert before meeting Stark, and he should hand over the ashes when the bird was in his nest. This could not be. His plans had never included this. But never mind what the human-and-Fire Bird was supposed to do, Stark was talking and, now that Loki looked closely, he was the one holding the attention of the group.

“Yes, there are many legends about Elves. They are ethereal creatures who live in the woods, in the stories I know they are either all regal and strict, or very, very into using the woods as brothels.” The whole group laughed, “Oh! And Santa’s Elves: Small, cheerful, sweet tooth, toy makers, children’s stories. You wouldn’t think that adults would use the same name for both, but they do.” He ended with a cheerful smile. Someone asked for Ogres and the human explained their lore to the group.

Stark had a way of gesturing that encompassed the whole room. Loki had learnt to distinguish which kinds of gestures affected people in which circumstances. This particular performance was easy to spot, but difficult to ignore.

When Thor had an audience, his gestures were pronounced, but stoic. He did it like a king to his beloved people, like Odin, like Loki had had to imitate: something regal but not very close. Thor always saved his shows of closeness for true friends. Frigga used to have warm but sharp gestures, Fandral was flirtish even fighting, Sif was blunt even flirting … In counterpoint to them, this human didn’t gesture to, but with the crowd; he gave the impression of a young crook sharing his last heist.

He didn’t shower them with facial cues that could earn their trust or their empathy; Loki knew that projecting trust was not as good for one’s reputation as it seemed. Being trustworthy was cumbersome and hard to maintain. Apparently, the human knew it too. He aimed for their complicity; he wanted to amuse, to leave a lasting impression, to own their attention, and that much he did have.

Loki had seen manipulators of all kinds, and this one’s audience had submitted to him long ago. There were voices from eight of the nine major races, a big representation of magic users, and absolutely all but two of the key pieces on Loki’s board. The master of the Ring of Watchers, the second in command of the Shield army, the heads of the minor kingdoms, the Secretary of War Affairs of Muspelheim, the Lady of High Smoke … all there to contemplate the human.

Truth be told, many were not focused on him. The hall was crowded, yes; many of the kings and high diplomats were minding their own business, but the important personalities seemed to have gravitated to the tiny human. And it looked like everyone was paying attention to Stark’s group in some way or another. Sideways glances, attentive ears here and there …

Loki had not been in the hall to see how the conversation had started, but he only needed to watch closely everybody’s faces to see that they were drinking from Stark’s words like thirsty horses on a hot summer day. No, not like horses. Stupid people listened with innocent ears, but these were filing information and weighing the possibility of alliances, asking questions. Loki could see in their eyes and their muttered conversations that the human was doing more relationships work in a few hours than the Asgardian diplomats had in the last twenty centuries.

“Are there mines in Midgard?” Oh, but that was about to get interesting. Thanks to the Dwarf on the other side of Stark. Depending on the answer, Midgard could be the next target in the hundred power-hungry minds in the room listening closely to the silly human giving away information.

“Mostly closed ones. Sorry to disappoint. We are dry. Well, not dry, I mean, we are not a flat rock like Asgard, but it is worthless.” Loki could not believe the human’s impertinence. He had insulted Asgard in front of the Prince and still had his head on his shoulders. “Our cultures are much more interesting than our resources.”

“How do you function if you are dry?” An Alan with a child clinging to his arm asked in a disappointed tone. Loki was frowning; he knew that they had iridium and he knew there was much more; he had done his share of research, and Stark was lying, but why?

“Not easily! I am an inventor; I’m in charge of building devices that produce energy with as few resources as possible.” Not only Stark was lying to protect his home-planet, he was painting himself as a vital piece to keep the world spinning. If the human hadn’t been devastating Loki’s plans, he would have admitted what a beautiful spectacle it made.

“Then you are a sorcerer,” a Fire Giant rumbled. The group became wary. Loki was torn. He couldn’t decide if they suddenly didn’t like Stark because he was a magic user or if they were trying to reign in their interest because they were aware of Asgard’s views on magic. Damn Asgard, the conversation had been getting interesting and now it was on its way to become merely awkward.

“That depends on what you call magic,” Stark answered, blissfully ignorant of just how much trouble he was calling down just by blithely talking openly about that particular taboo. The Warriors Three looked very uncomfortable; not so much the rest of the room. “We have science, Jane and Thor could tell you much better than me, but, on Earth, we respect very much our scientists, and we are eager to learn what you call magic, right, Jane?” The wary mood seemed to deflate at his casual tone of voice, and Loki couldn’t help but start to suspect that there was nothing casual about that tone. Stark was playing the multitude. He had mentioned the golden prince, his betrothed, and magic in the same sentence; it was a nice move, elegant even. The woman stepped forward with a serious smile, but she was nowhere as comfortable as her realm-companion.

“I’m still working on it, but I think your knowledge about the working of the world and ours superpose nicely.” She didn’t like the focus and she was uncomfortable explaining her sciences to people whose anatomy she probably wanted to include in her field of expertise. It showed on her face. “By some things that Prince Thor has mentioned, we have developed some branches of science that the use of your magic has bypassed, but would be useful to add.…” But it was also true that she was gaining confidence — a different confidence than Thor and Stark — as she looked at people in the eye. Her use of Prince Thor denoted that she had been teaching herself protocol, since Thor would never tell her to call him prince. “An exchange of technology and information would bring us closer to many goals that we share.…” Loki wondered if she would be capable of learning to talk like a queen, and then he wondered if she would need to learn.

Loki was elbowed by a short pooka on his right. “Odin should invite humans more often. They are refreshing.” Loki wanted to counter that at least one human was not human at all, but he nodded at the stranger because, all things considered, the bird had started over. No memories. No, unfortunately, the bird was now absolutely human, it was just … just Stark again. Loki dreaded the fate of his plans with such a wild card on the loose. Once again, why was he here?

Loki had studied his surroundings during his mock-invasion, so he knew that the inventor’s clothes were not formal attire. He carried a bag and a metal suitcase too, and if Loki was not wrong, his mannerisms were a bit too quick, a bit exaggerated. The human was not comfortable either, but he hid it expertly. Taking the fact that he was not supposed to be there into account, the obvious conclusion was that Thor had pressed him to go. Why Stark was seeking attention instead of melting into the shadows like Loki would do was simply impossible to understand.

However, Loki had seen him in Midgard before, out of his metal suit, and this was very different. Stark was not playing the same game this time; now he should be more relaxed and he was not. Now he exuded a controlled careless aura opposite to the tense humor he had used before being thrown out of his window.

Loki could not shake the feeling that Stark was treading with the utmost care. Now he seemed small, where the Stark of the tower would have drowned everyone in his ego. There was some problem that Loki could not figure out from the outside, and this was how the inventor dealt with it. Loki couldn’t care less what happened to him, but whatever was troubling the human’s mind would probably end up being a problem for him too.

“But enough about that,” Stark continued when the other human, Lady Foster, faltered and looked at Thor briefly for reassurance. “I want to know what the opinion of other realms about humans is.”

“A delicacy,” an Ogre responded, adding before anyone could actually process the answer: “Jesting.” When the series of snorts stopped, he went on, “Humans are in our tragedy tales for their short lives. They are usually considered friends of the children. We teach little Ogres to live life to the full because even if our lives are long, our surroundings are not as long-lived.”

“That is nice!” Stark said surprised. “Very deep! What about Elfland, my limpet?” He turned to the young Elf who, if Loki’s memory was correct, was the son of one of the ambassadors.

“Apparently we share legends. Humans are either very hard-workers or sex-driven enthusiasts who lure young elves to mind-shattering orgies,” the elf answered quickly and with a tempting grin.

“One must wonder what our ancestors did to earn such a reputation, and if we should start to restore traditions.” There were laughs again at Stark’s comment. Loki saw the Bifrost lighting up through the open doors. He had almost forgotten who he was for a moment there.

According to Loki’s predictions, it was time for the Jotunheim diplomats and his last key pieces. They were supposed to come later than the rest for the same reason humans were supposed to be the first ones. That would put a wet blanket over their merry celebrations. Loki moved a bit to have a better view; there was no way they wouldn’t meet now. It was too late to make them leave, so he wanted a top spot to watch the fireworks.

He saw the archer who had been his mind slave perched on a balustrade. He climbed half of the stairs to stand next to him. The archer looked him over and went back to staring at his teammate; there was definitely something wrong with Stark, then, if his teammate was on the watch. They listened with the other two occupants of the stairs as the Dwarf explained her share.

“For us, humans are very much like us, but with quick lives. Also, humans are seen in twos or threes, and they are known for liking to help honest workers and having many solutions very quickly; but humans are a metaphor, because even though they come up with good ideas and solutions, they never agree on the best one so they end up confusing the person they are trying to help.”

“Funny!” Stark shouted.

“Yes, the legend is very similar in Muspelheim,” one of the Fire Giants added, “but they can only be seen by our youngsters, much like the Ogre said. Oh, well, and you were supposed to change color depending on your mood too, but I see we got that wrong.”

Stark laughed and turned to a raven haired woman. “What can the Queen of the Goblins add to that?”

“Oh! I make sure Goblins remember humans vividly. Humans are not legends in the underground.”

In that moment they noticed the approaching steps of the newcomers and they opened their circle to receive the new King and Queen of the Jotnar. They came with their small cohort, all of them in their green ceremonial robes. Thor took a tentative step ahead, not smiling, but not striking either. Loki could have used his Odin skin to call everyone to order, but this was much more informative, not to mention entertaining.

“Prince Thor,” the blue Giant greeted.

“I must apologize, for I don’t know your name. I have not been home for a long time.” Thor was still strictly polite, not welcoming at all.

“I’m Sinnikkyys, and this is Voima,” he introduced the strong-looking woman on his right.

“Greetings, Your Majesties.”

The Frost Giant offered his arm in the Aesir gesture to salute, but Thor looked at it as if he didn’t know how a hand worked. Voima coughed and raised her voice from beside her husband with a smirk.

“He doesn’t bite, Prince Thor.”

Stark took the hint of humor as his cue to step in and to spare Thor from the awkward situation.

“Heh, but do you frostbite? How do you do this?” He shook Sinnikkyys’ hand clumsily without getting frozen and the whole room seemed to breathe out. Thor clasped their arms as soon as Stark let go and he went to introduce Jane to the King too, but the focus was back on the loud human. The whole picture was ridiculous; Stark was substantially smaller than Thor, and he was positively insignificant compared to the two new arrivals and their cohort, but he managed to shine among them.

“Is it different for the ladies here? Do you do the knuckles kiss thing or … I see, nope, same thing.”

Voima did the same arm grab as her husband and she asked the obvious question. “And who are you?” She looked at Stark and Thor, not sure who would give her an answer; except, of course, the human would not miss a chance to speak.

“Tony Stark, Avenger from Earth. But until the big boss comes to get us, we are overlooking formalities, so please call me Tony.”

“Don’t we have a meeting with Odin?” Sinnikkyys complained, looking at Voima.

Stark stepped in again. “We all do, but we decided some hours ago that Odin was going to see us all together or not at all, because secrets are not conductive to alliances. Humans didn’t even know that there were going to be more visitors. If you want to go, the unfortunate servants would be glad of being able to do their work for the first time today.”

Voima’s laugh surprised them all. “Who has planned a riot in the heart of Asgard’s Palace?”

“Not technically a riot, ma’am. We came to that decision together as more people kept coming from the Bifrost.” Oh, but what a transparent lie. Loki could admire a fellow liar. He made it obvious enough to get the credit, but not obvious enough to get the blame if Odin decided to seek culprits.

Loki needed to start with the formalities, as amusing as this all was, now that he knew what they distrusted and what they wanted, so he went back to become Odin again. On his way to the opposite stairs that would take him more discretely to the throne room, he overheard the Midgardian blond equivalent of Thor talking to the woman representing the Shield organization. He slowed down to listen in.

“So much for subtlety,” the man said with a nod to the middle of the room.

“Don’t mind him, nobody is paying attention to our vulnerable agents. That is what we wanted.” She turned and pointed to several people in the room. “And I have found three different magicians who wouldn’t mind overseeing the magic-cleaning to tell us if Odin is conning us.”

Loki moved on, thinking about what he had heard. He had spent his youth beside Thor, Frigga or Odin, and thus he had never had the chance to overhear how much vitriol others held against Odin. It was quite encouraging to see that he was validated by someone; on the other hand, it was disheartening thinking of the years he had spent ignoring such opinions.

Just as the red haired man left the room, Jane came to join the group of humans.

“I think someone just invited me to eat hair and nails, and I think they were trying to be polite.” Jane shuddered.

“This place is weird,” Maria said without concerning herself. Instead, she counted the scientists and agents who were cowering behind Steve. They all had spent the time after the New York Invasion in therapy, but nothing quite worked. The nightmares kept coming back, and that word, Thanos. Maria had strict orders not to come back without intel on whatever Thanos was.

“But the worst part is that I like the weird people more than many of the Aesir,” Maria heard Jane say, and she spun on her feet as Steve asked, “The Aesir?”.

“Asgardians.” Jane looked at the only Asgardian left. Sif and The Warriors Three had left as soon as they saw the blue Giants come, so Thor was alone playing along with Tony. “Like the last time, they looked at all of us as if we were dirt on their Sunday clothes, didn’t you notice? I talked about it with Clint before, and I know that he noticed too.”

Steve was about to differ, but Maria agreed before him. “I did. In fact, the magicians were far easier to approach than any of the servants here.”

“Except Thor and his friends.” Steve seemed uncomfortable. He usually called out his friends when they were being rude, or racist or involuntarily assholes in general, but he had not seen this one coming, busy as he had been worrying about the agents and Tony endangering their mission.

“Not really, Steve,” Jane countered. “Sif is not happy, either, and the Warriors Three like us because they think that we are entertaining and allies to Thor. And Thor … well, he is learning that all the species are just as important, but I don’t think he has applied the theory to everyone yet.” Jane crossed her arms and kept looking at the crowd. “I’ve heard him say terrible things about other races and I believed him, but now others respect me more than the last time I was here. There is a Dwarf who has tried to convince me to help harness a black hole in their mines, and a … I don’t have a name, a nice serpent, who wanted to exchange tales, but my point is, Asgardians were condescending to me; they were so surprised when I did something right or knew something ... and now these people don’t look human, but they are much kinder than Thor’s people.”

“Yeah, and the whole ‘Guardians of the Universe’ schtick makes me nervous,” Clint contributed, coming out of nowhere.

“Clint! Stark?” Maria barked.

“Relax, sir; by now, if something happened to him, the whole planet would know before we could blink. As I was saying, they think so highly of themselves, so absolutely righteous … it is infuriating!” Clint growled.

“They live longer than us, and they are the most advanced civilization,” Steve said uncertainly.

“Weeell, not sure about that either, some races have long-ass lives, don’t they?” Clint started before Maria stepped in.

“And while I talked to the magicians, I overheard General Pitchiner retelling how Asgard raided the Nine to be the only ones with advanced technology and to more easily control the passage between realms. In fact, it would explain a lot of things about Asgard.”

“True. But back to topic, did you see Thor’s face when the blue Elfs came?” Clint interrupted with a grin.

“Jotnar,” Jane corrected.

“He was SO uncomfortable, I’m going to make him watch Avatar when we get back.”

A small boy pushed past Clint and dashed through the mass of guests, announcing that Odin would receive them in the throne room now.

People started to move as a wave, and they saw groups getting into some kind of loose formation; divided by realms and species, dappled by odd groups of people carrying on their conversations through the halls.

They saw Tony with a Dwarf walking with a considerable distance between them and talking. Steve and Maria thought that it was because the Dwarf was trying to get away from Tony politely. Jane had learnt that it was more respectful and less straining for their necks to keep a step away. The pair was coming close and Thor was trailing behind, boldly keeping an eye on the blue guests and not even trying to listen in on their conversation: exactly what everybody else was not doing.

“Fine, I’ll show you how alyndor works, but you must explain what a pearl is and demonstrate that it exists, I can’t believe you; humans are strange,” the Dwarf exclaimed.

“Likewise!” Tony blurted. “I simply must see your underwater forges. I won’t believe you either, unless I see them with my own eyes.”

“Tony of the Smiths, you are welcome to our cave system whenever you want; say my name at Völlom’s doors and you’ll be received as a Forger deserves.”

“Gyöngy of the Királyok, find my home on Midgard and it will be your home … and maybe don’t kill me for butchering your name.” The Dwarf laughed faintly.

“I’ve had it disfigured before, and if you keep travelling you’ll learn that it matters very little. I hope to see more of you and yours during the day.”

Tony turned back to his friends and found a face full of Clint. “Hey, sir, I think you got lost, the Dwarves have already left.”

“Ha fucking ha, Clint,” Tony growled.

Thor joined them and kept looking over the guests even though the Jotnar were already gone. He looked a bit like a guardian dog, and in Tony’s opinion, it was fucking useless because, as he had discovered from talking to a Muspelheim representative, a couple of Surtur followers (whatever that was) were the ones planning a coup, and there were already five different parties trying to stop them, because such a big get together as today was not a matter to spoil.

“Why the fancy wording, Stark?” Maria asked.

“She is interesting, and she has been telling me …”

“She?” Clint interrupted.

“Yes, well, I know that they use the ‘he’ for everyone in their language, but she has the curls typical of  female dwarves …”

“When did you become so alien-savvy?” Jane asked, slightly frustrated, but mostly curious. Thor had not made a difference between male and female Dwarves in the times they had talked about the Nine.

“Excuse me, where exactly have you been for the last couple hours? As I was saying, I know that a third of them are intersex, but she has the curly beard of the women Dwarves. She doesn’t care and I feel less uncomfortable using ‘she’. And the fancy wording is because she has been telling me about …”

“So they do have different anatomy! You must tell me more!” Jane said, pushing Tony delicately to the stairs and dragging everyone in the way of the mob.

“Well, well, miss scientist, I think you have seen more alien anatomy than me.”

“Tony!” Jane shouted indignantly, and she looked at Thor, who didn’t seem to be paying much attention.

“Yes, Tony! Don’t lie to the lady. Do you remember the pool incident?” Clint singsonged.

“Ok, maybe we have seen the same anatomy then. Unwillingly as that was,” Tony countered.

“I hope you are not planning on sleeping with her,” Steve admonished with a stern look that didn’t have much effect on Tony on most days.

“Why? You jealous?” he answered with a winning smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“You would dare mess with intergalactic politics for a one night stand?” Maria added, more curious than reproachful.

“He wouldn’t mess with shit. She is one of the lowest in the chain of command, at least that’s what other of the Dwarves said while I overheard,” Clint answered for him.

Then they went to the throne room with the others. Tony was thinking of how much he wanted to be home right now. It felt a tad too much like going to the slaughter, but his mind wandered, as always. Right now it wandered to Nick Fury and how he hoped the Hulk had smashed him to fine dust by now. At their arrival he had panicked a little, but he had coped by insulting Fury, his ancestors, and his descendants without anyone commenting on his own distress. If Clint had stuck a bit too close, it wasn’t Tony’s business.

Then, with the help of Jane (who had refused relentlessly to leave Tony on his own), they had stalled as much as was humanly possible, pretending to be studying every single little thing — technically Jane really was, but that was not the point — and asking Thor as many questions as they could. Thor had laughed and said that crossing the rainbow bridge had never taken him that long, but the rest of the humans had seen through them and were giving them nasty looks for procrastinating their plans.

Later on, the Warriors Three and Sif had unknowingly helped. They had delayed the group in the hall even more, and they had informed Thor of the details they knew of the big get together. By then, the Bifrost had turned on again and Tony had thought of a plan: he would be his most obnoxious self with Odin and he’d treat the whole thing as a business meeting. His product would be Earth, humans, and his own person; and his buyers would be all the weird guys that came through the Bifrost.

Having a plan gave him the confidence to get quickly into character. He only had one chance and he would not let it go. He let Jane and Clint in on his plan, because they were being surprisingly useful and they helped to convince Thor that he should greet everyone personally. Clint used the first minutes of the meetings to find a good nesting place while Tony and Jane got a feeling for how things should work, what was and wasn’t acceptable, and how much Tony could bend the protocol without breaking it.

He found that protocol was nonexistent, because each race had its own social conventions, but that trying or asking for them would get him in everyone’s good graces. From then on, he had been very comfortable learning and soaking in the intergalactic laws, cultures, and customs that could save his life if Odin decided to go against him.

For example, the lady Dwarf had been a very nice surprise, because, as he had learnt only a few hours before, according to Dwarf Law, an invitation to someone’s home is binding and could transform into sanctuary if needed. The lady Dwarf had made a very smooth move with that invitation.

Jane had worked on a smaller scale than Tony, talking to each creature, one at a time and keeping close to Thor to prevent an easy dismissal. She had her own tricks, and once again Stark had to remember that she had sold crazy projects about trips to the stars to the government and to university professors to get her grants. She was the quiet badass. Tony could see that Thor had stars in his eyes every time she opened her mouth.

Once they had made everyone see that Odin was up to something, it had been laughably easy to sway every race against Odin. The only thing standing between Tony and causing an intergalactic war against Asgard was Thor. It wouldn’t be fair if his Golden Kingdom was destroyed before he could try to change it. And it needed changing. Tony had listened to every possible opinion on the subject out of Asgardian ear shot. There were many things wrong with Asgard.

Tony snapped out of his thoughts when they reached the throne room because it was architecturally impossible. Tony’s engineering mind was crying with too high and not enough because base surface. But he ended up paying attention to the old man sitting on the throne. Tony hated him on principle and he had not even spoken yet.

The old man welcomed everyone, starting with condolences for the Dwarves and salutations to the new king on his first visit to the Golden Realm. Then he greeted the new monarchs of Jotunheim (which was quite a faux pas if he had understood the new political system of the icy Giants, because the king should have greeted the twelve tribes, not just the two intercessors) and he left humans’ first time at an interplanetary reunion for last.

Then the old man went on with a speech about union and mutual support and Tony thought that he would die of boredom, but he didn’t have the time. The doors opened and a woman entered, walking fast as a corridor through the crowd opened for her. Murmurs blossomed in her wake as if her naked and silent feet were planting seeds of scandal. Maria used that time to ask around who the woman was. A Mountain Troll answered in a hushed voice that she used to be one of Loki’s fiends before Odin banished her to Niflheim.

“And before you ask; Niflheim is the most secure prison in the Nine Realms since Odin broke that connection through the Bifrost. That is where all the realms throw the worst they have, to rot and die out of sight. Niflheim is a land of pain and desolation; full of merciless creatures who feed on ache of all kinds. It is widely spread, the story of Hela, who fell on this land and suffered all the tortures it had to offer, walking close to death, but never giving in, until Death Herself made a truce with Hela. Hela was spared the tortures of Niflheim in exchange of half of her soul and her eternal servitude to the realm of Darkness. Thus, she became queen and her tortures became so expert that her prey’s cries could be heard when crossing the Bifrost.” The Troll finished with a dark tone.

“Mudhead, stop scaring the humans! Those are rumors,” another Troll hissed. “It is also said that Loki tricked the Nine to banish creatures who would help her, but the truth is that nobody knows how she became Queen, because very few have been able to get out of Niflheim in the last centuries, not even she.”

From their side of the room they could only see her beautiful but sickly-looking complexion and her unmistakable fury. When she reached the foot of the golden dais, it seemed to shrink in front of her imposing stance. Odin stood up, but she was quicker.

“Father of all, I see you have gathered all the realms under your roof.” Her voice was not nice, not even considering the rage masking it. “All but one of them; I will assume that the Bifrost malfunctioned and that the invitation never reached its intended destination, for if other is the reason for your slight to my kingdom, I will not be the one to reign in the feral anger of Niflheim.”

Odin waited a beat as if considering his next words. “Indeed, you were not expected in this day’s reunion, but neither are you unwelcome, Hela of Niflheim. I had not been made aware of your disposition to come. “

“Lies! You are the one who imposed this banishment on me. I crawled my way from the dust where you threw me and you know the only reason for my exile has passed away. Souls may not reach my domains, but the news of their departure always reaches my ears eventually, even though no word came from Asgard to inform me. Two beloved souls, no less; one of them died twice and you have denied me of my mourning on each of the occasions.

“You have called me and mine monsters, but you are no better, Odin, son of Borr bastard son of deception. You banished me to prevent Loki from ever seeing me again and now your effort has come to fruition. With him dead, I’m free from Niflheim’s chains, but do not presume me or him defeated. I am the queen of the kingdom of the dead and I carry their memory in my bereavement. My rage will haunt you with all the mightiness that you never concede but to your chosen ones. You will never sleep in peace again, for I will inhabit your nightmares as well as your waking hours.”

The woman turned to leave at the same pace she came in; some of the humans gasped when they saw her half-putrid face. Most of them had seen worse, and they just marveled at the grace she pulled with such a disfigured state or wondered how much of her inner organs followed the same pattern.

The group of humans was treated to one more piece of information when one of the Trolls commented that the half-dead queen was the only one who still called Niflheim by that name; everyone else called it Helheim now.

Odin’s deep voice demanded their attention again.

“Queen of Niflheim, before you leave, I’m aware that silver words never stilled your tongue, but I hope they can still your steps for long enough to listen to my words.” Hela stopped, but she didn’t turn. Her deformed half was hard to read, but it could be said that she looked troubled. “Before you jump to an ill-advised war during an ill-advised time, stay and listen, for today we are trying to overcome our differences to keep peace, not to start wars. You might want to have your say in these matters. You think of me as a lie smith worse than him, but the harms that the people of the Yggdrasil will have to face are too serious to play games of lies right now.”

Hela turned back and stepped aside. She didn’t look up, she didn’t even comment, but she joined the mass of people. A highly suspicious move, but nobody mentioned it because Odin was speaking again about how nice it was having everybody there, about reaching for each other in uncertain times to stay together through the hard times and blah, blah, blah.

Tony was annoyed; he had liked the Dead Queen and he had not liked one bit that Odin had done something to silence her. By the mention of lies, he was sure that Odin had threatened her in some way related to Loki that nobody else would understand.

Tony could not keep himself from asking, he just couldn’t keep quiet. “So, when you made it so we wouldn’t meet each other, you were fighting for unity too, right?”

Odin looked straight at him, but Tony was done with the fear of God looks. Pepper had perfected that move until it stopped affecting him, so the Allfather had to go back to using words if he wanted a chance to intimidate him.

“You would not understand, but that was indeed my aim. Our lands have been in conflict for centuries. Staying away from each other is second nature to all of us until something new, young and inexperienced overcomes that nature.”

Was that an offhanded compliment? Or a clever insult? It certainly sounded like both. However, Tony didn’t have time to consider the Allfather’s words. Hela’s sudden eruption coupled with Tony’s smaller irreverence had opened Pandora’s box. Someone, the Vanir emissary if his memory served him well, rose his voice.

“Why the magic users, Allfather? We all have seen the group you have gathered. Why?”

Odin’s resolve seemed to waver for a second; he touched his eyebrows in a doubtful motion. When he spoke, his voice wavered faintly too. “Our former Queen, Frigga, wanted a better Asgard, where the self exiled citizens could walk the streets of their capital safely. I could not give her that in life, but the wishes of her kind soul still echo in our memory.” Odin seemed to breath deeply, “I invited some of the best magic users because I can’t erase the centuries that pull us apart, but I can honor Lady Frigga’s memory.”

Tony could hear sobs in the room. He didn’t know where from, but it was driving him up the walls. That asshole was using the death of Thor’s mother to manipulate everyone. That was vile, and if nobody was going to say so out of respect, at the very least he was going to break the spell of grief that the sick schemer had put on the crowd.

“Sure, Odin, why not? Why not telling the truth? Who is the big bad wolf? You wouldn’t have brought us, lowly humans, if you could work it out on your own. Spit it out, we must all be wondering why you brought us here today.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, Odin glared at him, and Tony would be facing something big and bad, but the previous silence broke in agreement and questions were asked everywhere. From the cacophony, an old woman stood up and asked why the little kingdoms were invited. One of the Elves seconded that and added that such an invitation undermined their authority over those lands.

The Goblin Queen answered for Odin that the Elves had no power over her lands, never mind what the Elves thought. The Elf answered that a child should know when to shut up and that the Queen’s lands were but an Elven dumpyard. The Goblin Queen answered with ‘this dumpyard is not yours to rule unless you want trouble with the chickens again’ and then it seemed that there was going to be a war after all.

Tony was utterly amused; the situation seemed to be over Odin’s head. Well, maybe not completely over his head, only juggling knives on the tightrope. The throne room was far more open to a violent revolution now than in the hall. Tony allowed himself to relax while the chaos spread through the room. His teammates were not very happy with him right now, but that was a common occurrence that didn’t bother him.

Loki, sitting on the throne, wished fervently he had been the one to cause such a delicious pandemonium. Alas, he was the one supposed to control it, and he discovered that he didn’t like to be on that side of chaos. Loki had wanted to talk to each leader in private to exploit their individual vulnerabilities, both their imperialistic dreams and their ideas of independence, but that wouldn’t be possible now.

Loki waited and listened to the conflict building up; he needed a solution quickly. He was not known for making good sudden decisions; he was the careful schemer and, right now, his pieces were scattered on the floor. He studied the crowd and his eyes found the smug human to blame for this mess, who was enjoying the situation too much.

Oh, but that sparked an idea. He smiled back to the human; it had his mischief signature on it, but it was not as if the present company would recognize it. Stark stopped smiling and started to look worried. Loki addressed the multitude.

“You should all learn from that human; such wisdom from someone so young.” Loki spared a second to take pleasure in Stark’s disbelieving expression. “You all argue over petty matters of land when there are greater problems that threaten us.” Once again, he had his audience’s attention. He didn’t want to reveal the existence of Thanos so early, but it was the most effective way; a common enemy. “What is your name, human?” And a common friend.

“I thought you already knew our names,” Stark said, seeing his game. It is not enjoyable to play the part of a pawn within a bigger scheme, when said pawn is clever enough to see the move, but not the whole board.

“I do, Stark, Avenger of Midgard. I was just trying to introduce you to the envoys of the Nine in a proper fashion. For this mortal,” he said, addressing the room again, “may be rash, but his heart is in the right place. It was my wish to direct things differently, but he is right; there is a threat approaching, and our disputes over small issues will bring us down before the battle has started.”

“What threat?” the Jotun queen asked as the last resolutions of revolution died.

“It is a name that some of you, travelers, will recognize and fear. Thanos has set his eyes on the Nine, and whatever the Mad Titan wants, he destroys. I see in your eyes that some of you already know of his reputation. However, this is no place or time to discuss this, so I ask you to refrain from uttering his name between these walls until the time is right. I understand that you want to stay together to discuss this and other affairs; that will entail more time and collaboration.

“For now, there is a feast. There is food for everyone, regardless of race. You will be guided there and we will keep talking after our hunger is sated.” Odin finished with a nod to the doors, where servants were already waiting.

Loki called the servants and hastily informed them that all the preparations would have to stay for several days. He sat on the throne and waited until the room was mostly empty; he felt absolutely depleted of energy, but there was still a long day ahead of him. All in all, his plans were not completely ruined and the face of Stark when he used his words against him was a fitting reward for the last hours. He stood up sighing and he looked for Thor and his woman. He owed them a walk in the gardens, and the sooner he did this part of his plan, the better for everyone involved. Literally; time would be of the essence there. The only positive consequence of the extension of the meeting would be that the woman would have more time to complete her part on Loki's plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than the previous ones, even though I moved 5000 words to the next chapter to make it shorter! I hope it is not too dense and you like it.


	7. Odin's Feast and Minor Politics

When Loki left the throne room, Hela caught his eye and lead him away from the noise. The voices lowered and the halls emptied around them, but servants still rushed past them with a polite nod every once in a while. They left the grandiose rooms and headed for the rooms designed for safe keeping of unimportant objects. She had been away for a long time, but those rooms had been there long before Borr spread his warmongering habits and nobody had bothered changing them since the last time a young girl hid herself among the golden, piled furniture.

Hela was walking a few steps ahead of him when they were alone at last; her half-chanting voice didn’t echo in the smaller rooms. “I can’t still your tongue with silver words, blah, blah, you think of me as a lie smith, blah.” She turned with a hard look. “Not your best work.”

“It worked.” Loki threw back. “You are here.”

“Not convinced, yet.” She was not joking. “Drop that man’s face and tell me how you found me the first time we met.”

Loki shredded his glamour as she had requested, a bit proud of her distrust, but much more worried about how she had come to be that careful.

“I did not find you. You found us while escaping from the merchants. And you pushed us against them,” Loki answered with a fond expression. “But Thor could know that, too. What you want to ask is something that only Loki would know, like when you sneaked into my bedroom in the night to tell me your new spell, when you pretended to run away, but hid in the kitchens, or when you spent a week telling me how Sif was so elegant, and so strong and oh-so-beautif …”

“LOKI!” The queen seemed aggravated; she glared warningly. Her resolve crumbled and she took his hands in between hers, looking at them intently and murmuring. “I thought I had lost you.” Loki put an arm around her shoulders and considered who else would suffer if he died. He had thought Frigga the only one, but he had obviously been mistaken.

“Dear, as happy as I am to see you, I’m not dead, so why are you free from Niflheim?”

“Who cares?” she said, not moving an inch. “Maybe the throne has read your wishes, or the spell has worn off, maybe the Norns wanted me to be here …” Then she pushed him away. “Why are you impersonating him?” It was hard to tell if she was confused or appalled.

“It is a long story; I am trying to get the Nine to work together, and that will not happen with Odin on the Throne. I’m afraid we don’t have the time for explanations, but do tell me of your plans.”

She nodded, regal once again, and walked around. “I won’t leave Niflheim; it has become my home during the last years, and I have changed it as much as it has changed me. However, it would be quite a feat if I could convince Odin to open the Bifrost for us again.”

“Odin will consider it and he will help you to open it once he has time.” He had said ‘consider’ but he knew he couldn’t deny her whatever she wanted, especially not after so long without seeing each other, which reminded him of a topic that he thought he had already buried deep. He breathed in, avoiding Hela’s eyes.

“Hela, it has been a long time since I last saw you. So long that I do not even recognize myself. There is something that you must know, I learnt it while you were banished, you have the right to know it … I’m … I am not a son of Odin, I am not even Aesir, I am a Jotun.”

Suddenly he had a mouthful of hair, arms around his neck, and a voice shouting close to his ear.

“That is fantastic! Congratulations! Now Odin can go suck an icicle and you owe him nothing. About time, by the way.” Loki hugged her waist, still confused.

“Are you not afraid? I would expect that reaction from someone who never knew the terror tales of Asgard, a human, someone from outside the Nine, but you grew up learning to hate them … us, to hate us. Why?”

Loki had a hard time imagining someone not hating giants in general. He had come to accept himself sometimes, and his Jotun abilities could give him an advantage over a great number of adversaries, but he didn’t have any hope of being accepted by others, not without a fight and a time of distrust. Hela’s enthusiastic welcome of the tragic news was absolutely unexpected; the reason escaped him. She just let him go and stroked his cheek; her face said that he was being the densest idiot in the realm.

“Loki, I’ve been called a monster, Fenrir and the others were called monsters, you were called a monster before this, too, if you’d care to remember. You taught us to ignore such idiotic comments and you defined monsters in a new light for us. The biggest monster I’ve ever met is Odin, and even if you turned out to be a murderer, which, apparently you are, and we will have to talk about it at some point,” she frowned at that and Loki was already fearing that conversation, “at the end of the day you will still be our father.”

“I am NOT.” Loki had never allowed any of his protégés to call him that, much less after Odin’s revelation.

“Fine, mother then,” Hela defied cheekily.

Loki sighed, frustrated once more. “I was your patron at best.”

“If you say so … but you did what Odin never bothered to do with you and Thor. I’ll never understand your reluctance to be called what you are, mother.” Loki knew when he had lost a battle, but he could roll his eyes and deny it.

“I need to collect Thor and his woman from the feast; we will talk later,” Loki deflected, trying to go back to his schemes as quickly as possible.

“I don’t think so, mother, dear,” she said, linking her arm with his. “Put on that awful disguise of yours and let us go while you explain me who is that Thor’s woman and what are your plans exactly. Let them eat in peace.”

However, Jane was not enjoying the feast as much as Hela had thought; most of the guests were in the same situation. They had arrived in a very high room, built like an arcade, divided into three sections with something translucent and crystalline in between columns and in the ceiling. The tables were already full of food; the space was divided in nine big areas with several tables on each one. The central table was occupied by Asgardians, and Thor had to sit there with other people they had not seen in the reception hall or in the throne room; he was not pleased about that, but the other Asgardians convinced him saying that he’d have all the time in the world to be with his humans later.

Surrounding the central one, there were many smaller tables. Six were more important than the others; soon those were occupied by the six main races, while  the remaining tables were occupied by the smaller races that had more affinity with the important ones.

The humans were at none of the six main tables, nor the smaller ones; instead, they were at the end of the feast room, next to the doors leading to the kitchen. There was an empty table next to them where the magic users sat when they were ushered there. Humans and magic wielders shared an indignant look before proceeding to sit on their benches.

Jane noticed that Tony had sat in the best corner to escape through the kitchens at his back and keep an eye on the room in front of him, so she sat next to him. Soon Steve took the corner in front of them, ever the trusting one, not caring about putting his back to a room full of aliens. Selvig, ever the careless one, sat right next to him. Clint sat on Selvig’s left, but he had a leg on either side of the bench. Maria sat next to Jane, thinking of controlling her agents as well as the potential threats. The rest of the agents took the remaining seats without protest.

The conversation continued from where they had left off in the hall. Maria and Clint had compiled very similar information: hierarchy of the main races, warlike civilizations and peaceful ones, weapons, and which ones had ulterior motives. Mainly the Fire Giants, the Jotnar, the Dwarves and some of the smaller tribes.

Steve had noted which ones had been more interested in their agents. He pointed at them and Jane contributed by pointing out that all of them had something to do with magic, even though they were not at the magic table. From that, they deduced that the magic of the Tesseract had to be strong enough to be picked up by them.

Jane also contributed by being the single one to understand the Elves and their system of ownership. Basically, if they had knowledge about it, it was theirs. They didn’t have a right to control it, but they considered it as their own. “Like some tribes of the Amazonia” she said as if it was of no consequence. That knowledge would have prevented a lot of wars with the Elves during the long history of the Nine, but she wouldn’t know that until she had access to non-Asgardian reading material.

Apart from that, Tony had collected more information than anyone else. He started pointing to the farthest table: the lonely one.

“Those are from Svartalfheim. Thor mentioned the Dark Elves are from there; the living conditions are awful and not much lives there after the war with Thor’s grandpa, but I’ve heard that some colonies of Dark Elves survived and are building a camp for refugees there, don’t let Odin hear that. The lady snake with which you were talking is from there too, she is a Sheck. Not a problem for us.”

Then he pointed to the next table, the most populated.

“Those are the Fae folk, they come from Planet Alfheim and surrounding pocket dimensions. Whoever decided how to put the tables like that is fucking stupid because they hate the Dark Elves with a passion. There are a lot of people trying to prove that they have a better kingdom, pissing contests and general anarchy. Honestly, I think that these particular Light Elves are not diplomats, but the only ones who could be bothered to come. There are Succubi, Incubi, Huldras, Fairies … If you’ve seen it in a story and read that it is delicate and beautiful and wearing a tutu, it is there, more or less.

“I don’t think they are trustworthy, too individualist for that, I know, ironic coming from me. But they are also vain, so they are not as pretty as you think. A wild guess: I think they have something called glamour that is projected to the person watching them so we each see what we consider beautiful. Oh! And the Goblin queen is in that lot too, but her affinities are exactly everywhere else and she doesn’t fit the pattern, I think that she is actually human, but I won’t cross her to confirm it. They came as a display of power, all of them, but they are not a problem for us either.”

Then Tony pointed to one of the closest tables, the one where people dressed as if a Renaissance festival had made babies with Arabian Nights. Men were as scantily clad as women, painted with colors from bright pink to dark blue. They all had their hair cut short; Jane and Maria had noticed that their clothes held a resemblance to Aesir armor if armor was made with silk and tulle. They had the regal aspect of the Aesir, too, but a less boisterous approach to conversation. Clint had noticed the scrawl on their jewels, more elaborate than any Aesir.

“Those are the Vanir, from Vanaheim. They are very practical, they have brought the most Aesir-like representatives, but they usually give a home to many homeless species, that’s what the colors represent. The most human-like species are in the surrounding tables, like that General Pitchiner you were spying on,” he mentioned to Clint. “They bow low to the Aesir, they accepted surrender to them in the war in exchange for not being harmed. They would be up to par with gods, and they love magic to their very core, but they behave as Asgard wants for the sake of peace. They would be splendid allies, in my opinion, if something happens to Earth.”

Tony pointed briefly to the table next to them.

“Those are magicians, but they don’t like being called magicians. They will be fun as soon as I manage to see why the hell they don’t relax anywhere, I think Odin has something to do, and I plan to undo it.”

Then he pointed to the other end of the room, but in their same side. Those people were easy to recognize. They were five or six feet taller than Steve; their heads seemed to have sunken between their shoulders; and their skin was a pale gray that cracked when they moved, revealing a texture similar to incandescent gum underneath. They irradiated heat, but not as much as one would expect from a race called the Fire Giants. Their clothes seemed ill-fitting, almost rags. Maria had said that they probably didn’t wear clothes in Muspelheim and they were wearing them here just for show.

Two of them were simply naked, but nobody blamed them. They were white-hot and clothes would probably just burn with a mere touch. They were also hard to look at, like welding (in Tony’s mind) or like the sun (in the other humans’ minds).

“The five big guys are Fire Giants, or Fire Jotnar, but I’m not sure if one of those names is an insult. They are planning a coup against Asgard, the two shiny ones sitting with their back to us.”

“We must tell Thor!” Steve burst out, jumping to his feet.

“No, we don’t,” Tony answered. “Everything is under control, there are five different people trying to stop them. I’m not sure if they have coordinated of if they are racing against each other. But I’d bet those two don’t have a future beyond this meal.”

“Why the coup?” Clint inquired.

“They are followers of something called Surtur. I don’t know …”

“Surtur is the main ruler of Muspelheim,” Selvig joined the conversation unexpectedly. “He’s Odin’s enemy, since Odin defeated him and stole their most precious artifact, the Flame of Eternal Destruction. Surtur swore not to help Asgard in any way as long as he lived. Since then, with a mad ruler and without their beacon of hope, their realm fell into a deep abyss.”

“Thank you, Selvig,” Jane said, then she noticed how everyone was looking at her and shrugged. “He has been right in his unlikely astronomy theories, I don’t see why this would be any different.”

“What about the other Fire Giants, then, Stark?” Maria tried to ignore the whole thing.

“The ones who are not planning a coup against Odin are planning a coup against that Sutur, so I wouldn’t get too close in case they want our help.”

“The hairy woman is with them?” Clint pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.

Tony stood briefly to see who he was pointing at.

“Oh! That is the Lady of High Smoke, sounds like Lady Stoned, but she is quite powerful. She represents all the other races who are not Fire Giants and, thus, considered animals, even though they are intelligent forms of life. Dragons, guys! I think one of the races she represents is Dragons.” Tony had a huge grin on his face. “She is the peaceful side of the coin of revolution; if they manage to fell Surtur, my money is on her as the next leader.”

Then Tony went  on and pointed at the next table.

“Frost Giants, Thor has mentioned those, I don’t know what they did to him, but I quite like them. They have been very welcoming in the short time they have been here… to humans, Aesir are a different story for them. Voima has even offered me something like an exchange program.”

“Loki was one of them,” Jane added.

“Oh! Yes, Thor doesn’t like to mention that. Well, they have come, the twelve tribes, I think, looking for something like validation, since they are new rulers. The man and the woman are here acting like king and queen because the Frost Giants think that Asgard would accept two rulers more easily than twelve different kingdoms ruled as a big commune or something. I’m still figuring it out, they came late.” He made a circular motion with his hand. “The guys on the other tables are called Saumen Kars, Tizheruk and Tupilaq, but don’t ask me who is who, as I said, they came late to the party.”

Clint looked at the last bunch of tables. “And those are your long lost cousins.”

“Yes, these are the Dwarves, and I wouldn’t mind being less tall if they gave me the tour of their mines. Nidavellir is very big and has levels not completely defined. Pookas, Trolls, Ogres and Alans live on the surface; the cave systems are shared by many creatures who couldn’t come because light hurts or kills them and the Dwarves themselves. Do you know why Asgard has so much gold? Well, wonder no more; Nidavellir has to pay for its peace with the ‘Golden Realm’. They used to hoard gold and sing songs about it. Now they despise gold as much as werewolves despise silver. By the way, there is a werewolf in that table there. You see the two humans who look like they’re the medieval bodyguards of the one who looks like a priest? The woman is a werewolf. But I wouldn’t approach them either. They are from a ‘wandering world,’ whatever that is, and all three bite.”

Then Maria cut off Tony’s monologue because she realized that her agents had been warily eying the feast the rest had ignored entirely; only Selvig was eating with gusto. Seeing the 'feast', it was obvious that someone had tried very hard and had missed by a long shot.

Clint and Tony snickered like school boys and the rest raised their eyebrows at the contents of the plates: there were tomatoes mixed with the fruits in the fruit bowl; there were whole potatoes, still with the skin and some sprouts; there was bread cooked without yeast, or baked with sugar and meat inside; then there was pasta and only pasta, no sauce. The pasta was the length of a spaghetti and the width of a pencil. One of the agents had gone for the jars and they saw him pour warm water with coffee beans floating or dropping to the end of the cup. However, there were pop-tarts and those were perfectly shaped, if maybe a bit too big.

They looked around and they saw that the custom-made food had been just as successful at the other tables. Faes were poking what looked like poached strawberries. Dwarves had distrustful looks directed at something that was still moving in their bowls. Dark Elves were almost fighting with something out of the depths of the ocean. The Jotnar were eying raw fish with disgust, and the Fire Giants were crushing coal between their fingers.

Tony and Clint were not the only ones laughing with varying levels of discretion. The only ones enjoying the meal were the Asgardians and the Vanir, with their shiny, juicy boars set on their tables.

Tony struck up the conversation again, picking a tomato that looked edible and biting it. He mentioned how unlikely it was that so many creatures were so human-like and how it meant that Darwin was wrong and that the universe had patterns within the variables of probability. He repeated how much Bruce would have liked the whole thing and Jane tuned him out in favor of listening to Steve, who had come around and had stopped defending Asgard.

“I had not thought about it, but protectors of ‘The Nine’ is not very accurate, is it? Svartalfheim is simply destroyed, one of the realms is a prison, Jotunheim has been as isolated as it could be, and we have not been part of their worlds socially or politically in the last two or three millennia. In the end it is just Asgard and whoever they favor at the moment …”

Then Jane overheard Clint talking to Tony in hushed voices about the unsuccessful ‘Mission: Who Is the Cupric Prince?’ which had only led to someone saying that Odin had been in an odd mood and behavior since the last war against the Dark Elves.

Jane turned to talk to Maria, who was sending reproachful looks to her agents because they were mimicking gaging to the table of Dwarves (who were pointing at the mucky thing and gagging back) while her linguistics specialist was freaking out with the Allspeak and all the reasons why it was technically impossible. Maria coughed a couple of times, but the only reaction was an agent turning to her and asking: “What do you want us to do? Eat?”

Jane had almost laughed at that, but a tap on her shoulder distracted her.

“Excuse me, you are Lady Jane, right?” Jane turned to find the half-dead queen smiling politely. “Odin is talking to Thor. I’m afraid they will request your presence in a second.” Jane looked at the central table and spotted Thor and Odin. The last time she had visited Asgard, Odin had had an impressive way of calling attention to himself; this time he was so … discrete. Almost as if he were a different person. Thor sought her eyes pleadingly, so she stood to go to him. Queen Hela grabbed her arm before she could move.

“Lady Jane, would you mind terribly if I occupy your seat while you attend to your business? You see, I’m sure you and most of the palace know that my arrival was unexpected; they didn’t have time to prepare anything for me.” Hela nodded to the Asgardian table. “There is space at other tables, but I don’t think my company would be appreciated there.”

Jane looked at the other humans, who looked at the queen almost hungrily as a new well of information presented itself before them.

“Sure, take care of them for me and don’t let them interrogate you,” Jane answered with an equally polite smile.

The queen of Niflheim sent her an unsettling smile while she answered. “Thank you, dear, but if I were you I’d be more worried about them.”

Jane was almost sure that she could trust them to be civil until she came back with Thor, so she left them behind and crossed the doors of the feast room with the prince and the king of Asgard. She was not completely sure that she could be civil around Odin, so she concentrated on the present company.

They went outside and walked through gardens with pools and strange birds; they went quite far until they saw a greenhouse in the distance. Jane followed Odin and Thor’s conversation silently, not as a sign of deference, but because letting them talk was giving her useful material that an interruption out of spite was not worth.

They were talking about the increasing influx of traffic between the realms, especially Midgard. Odin suspected that someone was using the paths of Yggdrasil with a nefarious intent. He explained that he would regulate the traffic with the peace treaty that he was trying to sign. He repeated that there were bigger enemies, and that he had not been  jesting when he had made his speech.

Jane noticed Thor tense next to her. She followed his look and she saw that Odin, who was walking a step ahead of them, had his cape worn at the sides. She looked questioningly at Thor and he answered aloud, not minding Odin listening. “My brother used to wear off his capes at the sides too, because he walked with his shoulders slumped when he thought nobody was looking.” Jane patted his arm comfortingly.

Odin, as unsympathetic as she remembered, picked up the pace and talked about how Thor’s brother had confessed that he had worked for Thanos while he was alive. How the Chitauri might still come, and how they would probably find allies in their way. Odin finally spit it out: he would need Thor to map the secret paths that Loki showed him when they were younger.

“You can ask for help. Many of the mages reunited today are savvy in the Yggdrasil paths; the young ones would like the chance of exploring the worlds,” the old king said. “The Nine, in a common effort, will station guards before the doors between worlds once you find them.”

Thor laughed bitterly. “Brother would have loathed this plan.”

Odin waited before answering, “Yes, he would, but even he would give away his secrets if he knew what kind of threat we will be facing.”

Thor eyed the greenhouse before them. “Why did you bring us here?”

“For your woman,” he said, looking at the greenhouse too. “For Lady Jane,” he amended.

“What happens to me?” Jane said, perturbed, staring at the greenhouse, as if the answer were written there.

It could be written there with all that space. The thing was a monster greenhouse, in Jane’s opinion. It was higher that most of the sequoias she had seen. It was distorted, as if someone had pinched the corners and pulled; the roof was built inwards like a lens. There were huge panels of glass joined with something golden that was probably more gold. Then she looked beyond the structure and she realized that she had misjudged the size of the greenhouse, since the enormous structure was a small  entrance compared to the palace-sized glass building behind it; she could see vegetation through the glass at the top, so the ridiculously big space was actually in use.

“Jane,” Thor called her softly. They had already entered. Jane gave a start and shadowed them immediately.

“My wife died protecting you. She saw worth that I did not. I saw but a human, like the ones I left behind after the Jotnar tried to invade Earth: primitive, uneducated. You didn’t have the chance to show your brightness, Lady Jane. I intend to earn your forgiveness,” Odin intoned without looking at her.

Jane shared a look with Thor, who seemed just as confused as her. The nervousness and the sticky hot humidity made her sweat. She stayed silent, waiting for more answers as they walked on stone-paved ways and dirt paths alike, listening to the gentle rustling of leaves that signaled the presence of insects and small animals. Jane panicked for a moment, thinking of the size of the insects and arachnids if the trees were that big, then she remembered that she had other things to panic about.

“Odin,” said a female voice before a woman appeared from behind a semi-translucent tree trunk with two interns in tow. Jane couldn’t help but wonder why interns looked the same in every realm, only half interested most of the time and with a ‘when will this be over’ face.

“Idunn,” Odin answered in the same no-nonsense tone. Jane struggled with her memory. She knew that Idunn was a familiar name, but Thor had not mentioned her. It must have been somewhere else, then. But she had read so many names, so many fake names that Thor had dismissed as invented, that she could not remember.

“Your Majesty. You are not supposed to be here.” Jane looked at her for more clues. She was wearing a white … sheet? Whatever it was called, it was sleeveless and it didn’t cover her legs. It was loose, but fit enough so it wouldn’t get in the way of work. It was also dirty, as were her hands and knees. Still not a clue about her identity. Idunn, Goddess of Gardening?

“I know, dear Idunn, but my guests have changed my schedule,” Odin said, once again more subdued than Jane would have expected of him. “You are allowed to join us whenever you want, but I wanted you two to meet now.” Odin put a hand between Jane’s shoulder blades and pushed  her in front of the older woman. “Lady Idunn, head of the healing sorceresses and most valuable experimenter of Asgard, meet Lady Jane, who may be interested in your inquiries about the apples you grow.”

Jane gasped when she remembered the book where she had read Idunn’s name; the keeper of the golden apples. Idunn was looking at her with a skeptical brow arched. Thor did not understand anything; his father, the importance of Idunn, or Jane’s gestures of admiration.

Idunn looked directly at Odin, putting her hands on her hips and frowning. “You mean the extract of the seeds, I guess. The invention that could be, in some centuries, a source of eternal life?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Your Majesty, it is not suited for humans; their anatomy is different from ours.”

“I am aware, and I know the compound is not ready yet. But I’m sure that exchanging notes won’t hurt.” Odin put more strength in his words. “And the progress that you have managed so far would be quite an improvement to creatures that only live for one century. Give her the chance that she deserves and that I didn’t give earlier. Humans, I’ve seen, are quick learners.”

Odin left them and he heard Jane explaining to Thor something about giving fire and teaching to make fire, so she probably had understood the importance of his peace offering. Odin, the real Odin, would be furious when he woke up to this. For he could take away a sample of the apples, but he had no way of taking away knowledge. Loki smirked privately. He had seen Midgard and he had seen Jane; she would share the secret of the apple and humans would develop it much quicker than any Aesir could imagine. Loki reverted to the young redhead and ran to the castle; a king could not run, it was beneath their status.

Jane was a long term investment, but not all his plans revolved around Thanos; some of them went so far into the future that only seers would be capable of understanding them. Jane, though, she served a number of purposes. Loathe as Loki was to admit it, she had been good for Thor. Getting rid of her would only make Thor go slowly back to his old ways. She was good to deter Sif from aspiring to the throne, too. The Norns knew that Asgard would be even more stale with her and Thor together as the rulers.

The union of Thor and Jane would imply a good relationship with Midgard, the most changing and chaotic of the realms, and he wanted change. Asgard needed new blood, and anyone else would have ended up being a submissive queen. Jane didn’t have that problem. She would embrace magic, and she would welcome all the changes that Loki was planning to throw on the shoulders of the monarch of the Golden Realm.

And she could take the position Frigga had created for him; the sane man behind the throne to control the reckless enthusiasm. Loki no longer wished to fill any position in the court and she would be perfect for the role, with time, and that was exactly what he had offered; time.

He stopped when he heard a commotion far away in the halls; a second later there was a huge applause and general noise-making that drowned any other sound. Loki rushed forward, crossing paths with four of his Einherjer guarding two fire giants. One walked, dragging his feet, and the other was unconscious. As far as he knew, they were headed to the cells. He didn’t need to think much to realize those were probably the ones who had been trying to kill Odin. With a sigh, he changed back into his Odin skin and went back to the feast, where the noise had lowered back to the usual merry making.

The picture was not what he expected to find. His eyes were drawn first to the Asgardian table, with four empty seats; his, Thor’s, Idunn’s and Freyja’s. He sat down in his place and found Freyja at the Vanir table, where they were listening to her with sad faces. Probably talking about Frigga, then.

He looked at the Muspelheim table, where two seats should have been empty, but Njord of the Vanir and one of the Huldras he had seen before were in those places. Then he looked at where the Huldras were supposed to be and he found that the Fae tables were all empty. The occupants were scattered at the other tables. He almost didn’t notice the Svartalfheim table, quiet and still as they were.

He looked behind him; the Jotnar were missing six diplomats, but there were six Fae in their place. Loki looked over his other shoulder; the Dwarf area was very populated, but there were hardly any Elves. Not a surprise; the war was still fresh in their memories and Dwarves hated glamours as much as Elves hated anything not elegant enough. The less glamorous Fae had no qualms about blending in.

And then there was the table at the end of the room. Loki remembered two different areas there when he had come the first time, but that was no longer true. The two groups had joined their tables, squeezing together on the benches to make room for more than the allotted number of occupants.

Theirs was the loudest table, and they didn’t keep it to themselves. They were engaging surrounding tables, and throwing food at each other; especially the Dwarf area and the Jotnar. Loki saw that the six missing Giants were sitting awkwardly at that table, too, legs too long, showing at the other end. He realized that the group gathered were mostly the magic users from all the tables, not only the ones he had summoned.

“… no manners, but it is not unexpected. After all, they are just underdeveloped races.” Loki realized that the sentence was directed at him and he nodded silently. Tyr, Forseti and Nïord were finishing their plates and looking around with a dismissive attitude, but also quite uncomfortable and bored. Loki tried to concentrate and make small talk as Odin would.

The three gods were the only members of the council who had deigned to come; two gods of justice and one related to the Vanir by blood. Loki didn’t need more than that, so he talked about the primitive creatures and guided the conversation to announce that he would have to leave after this reunion. They didn’t like it, but Tyr accepted the care of Asgard in his absence.

He warned them and told them to warn the council in his name, because he was going to a dangerous place. He might come back changed; the place where he was going had strange effects on people’s minds. He could come back troubled, with shattered ideas and strange memories of dead people. It would take some time, days, weeks … until he came back to his senses and the hallucinations disappeared. It was possible that he would never get back the memories of the last days, or that he would lose  his mind and say that someone had tricked him.

They would need to change his mind; they would need to remind him of everything he had done lately, show with utmost accuracy how much Asgard had advanced in a few days. He would need to come to his senses before reclaiming the throne.

The three councilors accepted the burden solemnly. Loki had to control himself not to laugh right there. Even the youngest magic student knew that the mind could not be wrapped like that. Mind spells were too complicated to waste them in mere confusion. Mind spells were delicate and flawless or they wouldn’t have any effect at all. Loki usually rued Asgard’s ignorance regarding magic, but on days like this, it was a veritable treasure.

When the real Odin woke, he would be forced to watch what Loki had done with Asgard, and he would have to follow his lies if he wanted the throne back. He would not be able to undo the web of Loki’s plots, and Loki would be free to roam eight of the Nine, unless Odin wanted to break the peace treaty.

After that, Loki dismissed the three councilors. He considered talking to the humans now so they could leave and let him be, but when he looked up he saw that the situation had not improved. The Dwarf table had joined the human one and they were heating food with the help of mages and sorcerers. Loki was confused, until he saw the trays full of all the wrong food, mostly raw.

Leaving the feast to the servants had been a huge mistake, he had already realized when he came in with Hela and he saw the Fire Giants were sitting next to the Frost Jotnar; also, according to the arrangements, Odin was supposed to sit with his back to half of the tables. He had been embarrassed on behalf of all of Asgard and he was embarrassed again by this new display. Fortunately, it was not his own reputation at stake.

In spite of the catastrophe, people were having fun, and Loki knew that fun and life-threatening experiences were excellent for creating strong bonds. In that regard, the feast was a success. Furthermore, he had finally seen where Hela was sitting, close to where the magic and human tables joined. He had not paid attention to what she was doing, but she was laughing and she looked radiant; he had not seen her so happy since long before her banishment; that was a success on its own.

Someone coughed and he realized that people had come to sit at his table as soon as the other Aesir were gone. He could recognize the Goblin Queen, the ruler of the Wandering Turtle, and one of the few occupants of the Svartalfheim table. He could feel the looks of the other diplomats on them, but he could manage small and big politics at the same time. He resigned himself to play his usual games in public.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the servants cleaning tables and he noticed Thor standing close to the human table. Next to him were Idunn and Jane, who were engrossed in their own conversation. He focused back on the guests at his own table. The queen of the Goblins was quite a negotiator. She wanted the creatures of her land to be safe, she explained why she wanted to be neutral, and spoke of why her subjects were not fit for war. Loki managed to agree with her completely as he proposed her lands as a safe place for valuables. She agreed when he mentioned the paths of Yggdrasil and how they would be able to set their own frontiers with guards on those gateaways.

The ruler of the Wandering Turtle had been difficult. From him, Loki wanted warriors who weren’t fazed by magic, like the bodyguards that he had left at the table. He wanted them to train Asgardian soldiers because he needed to cement the idea that warlocks were on their side, and useful among Aesir lines. However, in the end, he had the feeling of having lost something in the process, and he didn’t know why.

The diplomat of the R’Lyeh had been simply impossible. He had his own elder gods and he wouldn’t stop chanting prayers. The man-like creature was speaking gibberish, but Loki was honestly afraid that he would manage to invoke something unsavory in the middle of his negotiations, so he called the guards fifteen minutes into their conversation and he had him escorted to the Bifrost and back to the nightmare realm whence he came.

He looked back to the noisy tables, now clear of dishes. Hela was still smiling as she pulled the illusion of an inaccurate but impressive Fire Bird for her small audience; when she looked knowingly to her left he saw that she was sitting next to Stark. He regretted having told her about his plans for the Bennu immediately. Stark was enthralled by the illusion, until one of the Frost Giants pulled a bigger, colorful illusion of a complex plant, Stark smiled at that and put a device in the middle of the table; it displayed an illusion of his iron suit building itself, which was later replaced by a rather explicit illusion pulled by a Succubus. They groaned collectively and they changed their game.

More people came to Loki’s table, as if it were his new desk. They were the underworld leaders, religious groups, magic gangs, rogue Faes: dangerous people. They could not sign the peace treaty that the main rulers would have to sign in the days to come, but an oral contract could be just as valuable to them. Among veiled threats and empty promises, he informed them about his plans for the peace treaty and how he wanted to include them because he knew that they were not ruled by their so-called representatives.

When he looked back to the human table, Hela saw him and she turned to Stark, who was recording an ice and shadow formation on his mobile device. Hela dropped some chosen words in Stark’s ears. He smiled unkindly; Loki worried a bit more.  

As the evening progressed, he saw that most of his guests had not heeded his warning and had investigated about Thanos on their own. He was grateful for that, because, finally, their misbehavior went according to his plan. When the sun set, he called one of the servants and he ordered them to bring dinner. Boar for everyone and Lahna if someone complained.

Loki stayed until people started to leave; some went to their rooms and some to the Bifrost, since there was nothing else they could do. However, Freyja was still occupied with listening to the Vanir, so he left behind a copy of Odin that would act in a regular way and used the redhead skin to enter her quarters and steal her cape. He had the sneaking suspicion that he would need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to divide this chapter (again) but they were supposed to go together so the next one will be up later today or tomorrow instead of next week. Is that ok with everyone?


	8. Night Trip

When he came back, the feast hall was almost empty and the copy of Odin looked surreal and lonely, sitting on his own at the central table. Loki called the copy to him; the last guests walked back to their rooms as soon as Odin left. Loki, however, could not rest yet. He had felt one of his tracking spells close enough to the Nine Realms to be accessible with just a short trip. It was not an opportunity to be missed.

He went to the inner port where his guests should have left their small vessels and he looked around for the most adequate. So he wouldn’t be discovered, he didn’t even bother with the main lights. Instead, he lit up a small green orb of his magic. He would have wanted to go to the stables, take Sleipnir and let him go, but the foal had grown to be a strong horse under Odin’s care. In other words; Sleipnir adored Odin, despised Loki, and couldn’t take care of himself out of the royal stables.

Loki sighed, but he found what he was looking for; the one-eyed trolls had come in small but powerful machines. One of those would hold together for a little race across three or four galaxies. A sudden flash of light and the noise of the door opening and closing announced the presence of someone else with him.

Loki killed the light and held his breath. Whoever it was, was not familiar with the room. He heard the noise of metal against flesh and a distinctive “ugnh!” of someone tripping over. Probably harmless, then, but he didn’t want to get caught there as himself or as Odin.

“Aw! Advanced civilization my ass!” the other person muttered right after the sound of fingers hitting wood. “I won’t believe it until I find a fucking light switch.”

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose in the dark; he knew that voice. Why did the Norns test him so? He had not had time to speak with the people from Muspelheim, he didn’t know why the nosy human had come, and he didn’t know how to control him. This was the worst possible timing. Nevertheless, he stayed in the shape of the redhead and the torches lit up at his command. Stark turned around, temporarily blind and looking for the source of light.

Then he realized that there was someone looking unimpressed and he smiled sheepishly.

“Sooo nice party, eh? I got lost looking for the bathroom?” Stark smiled even wider and he approached Loki, getting distracted with the ships around him.

Loki hummed, letting him see that he was fooling nobody. He could send the human back to his room and be on his way; then again, there had to be an approach to this that would benefit him.

“What are you doing here?” Loki asked to buy some time.

“Couldn’t sleep, decided to explore,” Stark lied. “And what are you doing here? Unless you snuck out for a smoke.”

“I’m on a mission for Odin,” Loki lied back. “What about a defenseless human like you, going around unchecked? You are all sticking together like little sheep. Are you not?”

“I’m in a black sheep mood.” Stark grinned. “Who are you exactly? I saw you in the group before, but I don’t think we’ve met.” Stark was inspecting one of the simple hovering discs of the Fae with an interested expression. Loki, however, could see tension in the line of his shoulders, as if he was ready to fight or fly.

“I’m one of the magic users Odin has called for some plot of his, I just want to see how long until the whole thing explodes under his nose.” Loki was still testing to see what lies Stark would like to hear; something in the last one seemed to have bothered the human.

“Why are you working for Odin if you don’t like him?” Stark asked, not paying him much real attention; he was now inspecting the side of a hovering carriage and looking for escape routes.

“Needs must. I know the paths of Yggdrasil better than most, I need to stay in Asgard for some time, and Odin needs to relay a secret message out of the Nine Realms this very night.” As Stark crouched to inspect the underside of the carriage, he realized which lie would rope the human in. “Also, that way I can use this alluring contraption.” Stark emerged from his spot next to the carriage and focused all his attention on Loki, who leaned against the machine that he was about to steal.

“Is that … Oh, man! This is a bike, right? A motorbike.” Stark got even closer and walked around the vehicle. Loki had a rather predatory smile that Stark never saw in his eagerness to inspect the motor.

“I don’t know what a motorbike is, but I could show you what a Nopeinpyörä does,” Loki suggested while he walked to stand right next to the human.

“Don’t you have a secret message to relay?” Stark looked at him with a half smile.

“It will be our secret. I promise to bring you back to your caretakers before sunrise.” Loki played along.

“Daddy Rogers and Mommy Hill are not a problem. Clint might notice that I’m gone, he has been awfully protective since …” Loki could see the cogs in his brain turning and pushing Stark to make a stupid, reckless choice; Thor behaved just like him. “Can you wait for a minute?”

“No.” Stark frowned at him. “So you’d better be here before I leave.”

The human smiled, ran back, and Loki questioned himself deeply. Gamora would be in the Milliways for some time, so he was not in a rush, but taking anyone with him would be a risk. Truth be told, meeting the green skinned assassin at all would be a risk; leaving the palace unattended would be a risk … but he was already trying to salvage the remains of a well thought plan that this very human had trashed, so any risk was worth the reward.

Maybe this was his perfect chance; he could bring the Bennu back from the human’s mind with some word or memory. It would speed his plans significantly if the Bennu rebuilt the gauntlet that very night. He didn’t have the spell to prevent a paradox yet, but he had the mages who would work on it in the following days. Loki would unmake Thanos and prevent the war. If things were that simple, all his back-up plans would be unnecessary, Loki would leave the throne, leave his plots and start somewhere very far away from Odin.

Loki had back-up plans for a very good reason.

When Stark came back, he was wearing the gauntlets of his armor. Loki tensed. Had he given himself away somehow? What had been his mistake? How had he missed the human’s fear? At least the hesitation should have been obvious! Where had it gone …

“What?” Stark looked too relaxed to be worried. “I’m reckless, not an idiot. I admit that I can’t drive that thing, not yet, and I don’t know where we are going so I’m not going to leave my repulsors behind, hot stuff.” Loki breathed; not discovered then. “By the way, I left a note so if you turn out to be a slave dealer they’ll know where to start looking for my sorry ass and who to blame.” Stark scratched his chin. “Now that I think about it, I don’t even know your name.”

Loki tried to relax. He should be offended by the human’s distrust, but he was too glad he was not going to be shot just yet. Any kind of extra trouble would be a nightmare after such a trying day. He recovered enough to realize that he had been asked a question.

“I’m Skywalker.” He revealed one of his least known names, because he would need to answer to that name as long as Stark was there, and he could not doubt, so he would not make up a new moniker just for this. The man burst into unexpected laugher and now it was Loki’s turn to frown.

“You can’t be serious, Skywalker? Like, you are a guy travelling through space who happens to have the force of magic. Oh, man.” He was almost crying of laughter.

“What is wrong?” Loki pried.

“Nothing! You share the name of  a famous character of our … well, Thor calls them our sagas: Luke Skywalker.” Loki felt prickles on his skin; ‘Luke’ was too close to his real name for comfort. He knew of the human’s habit of using affectionate names for everyone he met; he had to stop the human form using that particular one.

“Stark, stop laughing or you stay on land.” His serious voice seemed to put a damper to Stark's laughter, but it didn't kill his good mood.

“Fine, you win, Mr. Walker, how do I get on this thing?” he asked, tracing the semi-translucent bodywork of the vehicle reverently with the tips of three fingers.

That name was far more acceptable, so Loki helped him to sit on the sleek Nopeinpyörä. It was bulkier than a horse, but not as high. The front panel had the functions of a complex aircraft. However, this model didn’t work with touch screens, since they would be impractical in a moving vessel. Instead, it had a varied number of levers that Stark studied, very interested.

Loki sat before him, blocking his view, but Stark just leaned on Loki’s shoulders to get a closer look at everything he did. Loki bypassed the lock with a spark of magic and the machine came to life. Stark jumped when the Nopeinpyörä secured them in place, hugging their calves and fixing them to the body of the machine. He then contorted sideways to look at the exposed parts of the engine on the side.

“Ready?” Stark righted himself as Loki opened the back door of the port with another spark of magic.

“I should have brought my helmet. Don’t we need helmets? I think we need helmets.”

“No, we don’t, but if it makes you feel less scared …” Loki mocked him.

“I’m not scared, helmets look cool, that’s all.” Stark pouted and Loki was not sure of where the playfulness ended and the real worry started, but anyway, he could not help himself, he materialized two helmets: one for him, practical and forgettable; and one for Stark, familiar, golden and with horns.

“How do I look?” Loki had mastered the art of not laughing at the same time as he learnt pranking. So he answered levelly: “As you said, you look cool.”

“Of course, I’m not Tony Stark for nothing.” At that, Loki allowed himself a smile before turning his attention to the not entirely familiar panel before him.

The engine didn’t roar when Loki launched them forward, because the latest models were mostly silent. They exited the palace grounds and they crossed the city relatively slowly and silently. Stark was moving and mumbling behind him, upsetting the balance of the machine, probably looking at the landscape and the engines in turns. Loki took the route next to the aviary in the hopes of stirring some old memories; he skidded next to it and close to the cliff, then he came to a stop so Stark could look at it closer, but he was silent.

Loki was a little disappointed, but he had not expected success with this either. If it had been easy, Stark would have remembered his other shape when he met Thor. Loki needed an expert; everything he did would be a stab in the dark until he had some idea of how to bring the creature's memories back.

“Is that all? Color me unimpressed.” Stark was obviously challenging him, and Loki had to admit that he liked it, despite his better judgement.

“I was warming it up.” It helped Loki swallow his disappointment when he turned on the Nopeinpyörä’s lights, now that they were out of the general public’s view, illuminating the vista before them. Then he smirked and drove them far quicker back to the rainbow bridge and along its light-coloured surface. It looked as if they were going to crash against the closed dome, but at the last second he turned and they fell over the left side of the bridge[.](http://jaybarou.tumblr.com/post/92420612090/full-size-part-of-chapter-8-they-were-supposed)

Stark shouted, swore, and tried to push himself away from the seat, but the leg braces kept him in place. Loki saw from the corner of his eye that Stark had fired up the repulsors and was trying to fly upwards with his legs still trapped and he grinned. Once they had dropped for long enough, Loki suddenly pulled the white lever on the right and they started to fly horizontally again. Stark bumped inelegantly against Loki’s back and he used the motion to clasp his arms around the driver in a reflexive motion while said driver laughed quietly.

Loki could feel the heat of the repulsors — now off, but still hot — through his clothes and he heard Stark saying, “Last time you do that, you asshole,” as well as, “Never again,” “A little warning next time,” and really creative expletives.

Tony liked danger, he really did; half the time he was the one bringing dangerous shit to his own doorstep, but he didn’t like the lack of control. He had been about to shoot his leg things to get free, but he didn’t know how he would have saved, with only two repulsors, the stupid idiot who was laughing at him; he could feel the vibrations every time he swore. “Shut up and look around, Stark,” he heard the redhead say, “not many get to see Asgard from this angle.”

Tony obeyed and relaxed his clasp on the man’s midriff. They were travelling below the underbelly of the golden city, leaving the Bifrost behind them. Tony was surprised when he saw that the golden city was populated underground too. He knew that it really was flat, but Thor had already tried to explain the magical incident that caused it, the reason why it didn’t collapse, and how it retained its original gravity.

For some reason, Tony had expected chunks of dirt, maybe some roots, but it was much more than that. There were suspension bridges chained to the soil and wood structures hanging from the earth. At regular intervals there were lamps lighting up the way and crystals, reflecting the light appropriately. It was the middle of the night, so the bridges were empty, but Tony could guess who lived down under, and it wasn’t the rich and wealthy.

Despite knowing this, Tony thought that the view was splendid, and that was without even counting the unfamiliar stars under their feet. He was so busy looking at the constructions that he nearly missed where Skywalker was driving them.

“That is a solid rock,” he dead-panned when he noticed.

“You already thought that I was trying to kill us once tonight. Have a little faith in me?” Tony could have hated the jerk, but he was enjoying the after effects of the adrenaline rush and he was honestly calm for the first time in the last fourteen hours or so.

“I’m an atheist, faith is not something I produce naturally, but do your worst. Platform nine and three quarters, here we go!”

Loki sped up a bit and they shot through the lightless portal uneventfully. Then they were in the middle of nowhere and he felt Stark clasping his arms tighter and going deathly quiet instead of babbling or shouting profanities. He noticed that Stark's breathing was too quick to be normal.

“Stark? Are you alright?” The machine was supposed to keep the air and pressure conditions, everything needed to survive, but there was a very small chance of it not working on humans, and he had not counted on that. And Stark was not answering. “Stark, can you tell me what is wrong?”

The human didn’t answer, so Loki looked around, trying to find the way to Milliways by looking at the stars, galaxies, or lack thereof. He could not use the portal again yet or the trip back could have side effects on their vital energy; Milliways was visited by human-like individuals often; that would be a safe atmosphere for Stark. He needed to rush and get there before the human got worse, so he pulled the Nopeinpyörä to full speed, but it would be at least half an hour until they reached the place. As the stars passed by in a faint blur, he was reminded of his time in the void and the ghastly creatures living in there. Unexpectedly, a suspicion arose.

“Stark. Listen to my voice. We are not in the void, we are not lost; I know where we are going. Listen to me.” Stark didn’t move, but Loki fancied his breathing was more regular. “We are heading to Milliways, and this vessel has a … call it an air bubble. This is safe, you can breathe.” Loki stayed quiet for a moment, trying to assess if it was working. “Last time you were alone, right? You are not alone here. This is not the void, you can see the stars, we will be passing close to a galaxy, I will slow down to show it to you, but you need to tell me that you are not dying of something petty like lack of oxygen. You hear me, Stark?”

Loki felt Tony sort of nod and he sighed, the human was not dying. He didn’t know what would happen to the bird if the human died. He would probably be born again, but he was not going to risk it.

He slowed the vehicle until they were hovering next to a huge galaxy and he manually released their leg braces. Stark swung both legs over the same side and Loki imitated him, which let him look Stark in the eye. Not a great idea, Stark was still wearing his helmet and now that the situation was not life-threatening anymore, he wanted to laugh at him.

“How did you know that I had been in the void? And that I was alone there?”

Good. Stark’s brain was working again, even if he was looking at the galaxy as if it held the meaning of life and the universe and making all the wrong questions, or worse, the right, uncomfortable ones.

“Thor can’t keep a secret for more than five seconds, the whole court knows that,” he lied once again, “and I swear the Aesir are the nosiest people in the Nine realms.” Loki tried to joke. “However, there have been bards singing about the Warriors Six of Midgard as of late, it is no wonder that everyone knows.”

Stark finally looked at him.

“How did you know about the void?”

“Water from the same river tastes as sweet in different cups.” That one was not a lie, and maybe it was too much information, but Stark’s eyes grew wider and much more responsive. Then he looked back at the galaxy.

“How is it called?”

“The void?” Loki played the fool card.

“The galaxy, Firey,” Stark said, still at a middle point between spooked and amused.

“The natives call it The Swirl.” Loki looked at the stars before them. He could not give Stark more space, but maybe a little more privacy would do him good.

“Original much?” Loki could feel the fear receding and he had to concede: the human recovered quite quickly.

“Tell me again, how did Midgardians call the space? Or their planet?”

That managed to get a laugh out of Stark. It was not completely sincere, but it meant that he could control himself.

“Ok, point for the alien. Let’s go wherever you need to go, and tell me how to pilot this thing on the way there. I’m going to drive back.”

“Over my dead body!” Loki settled on the Nopeinpyörä, already positioning himself so Stark could see over his shoulder.

“Don’t you tempt me, I’m still mad about that cliff jump.”

They had twenty-five minutes of nothing ahead of them, so Loki was not averse to teaching him the workings of the machine. He didn’t know much about the internal structure, but it ended up not being necessary; they were at Milliways before Stark could ask complex questions.

Loki pulled their machine to a side of the floating establishment while Stark gaped. They got down and made their way to the entrance, passing by many aircrafts. One of them was big, cheap and badly parked: that screamed seniors’ tour. It meant a peaceful evening for them, if not as animated as Stark would have probably liked.

When they came in, they confirmed the suspicion as an enormous pack of elder Vogons crowded the place. There was a livelier table next to the bar, with a group of different races. The most eye-catching was what Stark promptly pointed out as “a fucking Ent.” He was not the one Loki was looking for, but he was sitting next to her.

Loki came closer and avoided touching the green skinned woman. Instead, he called her attention with a cough. She turned around and looked between them; she eyed Stark’s helmet curiously and Loki dissolved both helmets with a twitch of his hand.

“I’m glad to see you without a containing barrier between us, Gamora.” She recognized him behind his mask at those words.

“Will they be trouble, Gamora?” one of the group sitting around the table asked. He was the most likely to be human.

“I hope not. I met him when I was biding my time to run from my father. I’d say we have the same goals in mind.” She didn’t bother with a greeting, but she stood up.

“Indeed we do. That’s why I’m here.” Loki tried to convey the seriousness of the situation in his tone.

“And who is his friend?” The furred creature inquired.

“Tony Stark, from Earth.” Stark introduced himself.

“Oh! I’m from Earth, United States, Colorado. The name is Peter Quill.” The other human said, standing up and offering his hand.

“Can we speak in private?” Loki motioned to the counter.

“Sure.” Gamora left with Loki as the other human caught up on Earth’s latest news. “What is your deal?”

“I guess you are still going against Thanos,” Loki said bluntly as the bartender served them the only drink worth drinking in that part of the universe. Gamora nodded, not taking her eyes from him. “Then I have good news, if you tell me that you are still monitoring his movements.”

“Of course we are,” Gamora said, offended.

“We?” Loki looked at the group, where the furry creature had jumped on the table and the bulky one was trying to sit him back. “Who are they?”

“Criminals.” Gamora didn’t want to give any information; he could relate to that feeling. “Peter calls us the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.”

“Oh, please, not another one,” Loki groaned. “The Avengers are enough for a lifetime.”

“Don’t digress. Why are you here?” Gamora cut him off.

“I am trying to get rid of Thanos. He is following me, or trying to. If by any chance somebody asks, I am dead, but this will not fool Thanos forever, and I’m hiding an artifact that he wants. He will want me dead twice when he realizes that I stole it from him again.” He didn’t bother smiling. There was no point with Gamora. She wanted business and only business.

“You mean that you are the bait.”

“I mean what I mean.” Loki didn’t want to tell his whole plans either, but ‘bait’ sounded too helpless. “The Nine Realms are positioning themselves to go to war,” or they will, as soon as I get back to Asgard, he thought, musing on the chaotic court he had left behind. “I will set a diversion that should keep him occupied for some time, but I need to know when the diversion fails and when he is headed for one of the Nine.”

“I didn’t take you for a warmonger,” Gamora said perceptively. “You fit better the description of a spy, or a loner.”

“War is my last recourse. I’m trying something else too.” He risked a glance at the table.

“So he is not your …” She hesitated.

“My what?” Loki snapped.

“… pet,” Gamora said. “I was going to go with brother, but Thanos said that you hated him, or boyfriend, but you don’t sound like boyfriend material either.” She looked at the table, where her group was trying to make the human taste everything they were drinking and he was more interested in looking at the liquids against a source of light.

“You don’t know me, Gamora," Loki snarled darkly. "We met for a short time after some of the darkest times of my life. Assuming now that you don’t know me could save your life someday.”

Gamora kept staring at the group and Loki took the chance to ask for something light to eat, because he wouldn’t trust anything at the palace until all the guests were out again.

“What was the thing with the helmet, then? I thought someone had chopped off your head and taken it as a war prize.” She gestured upwards.

Loki chuckled. “I am not that easy to kill. He is a former enemy, still an enemy in many senses of the word.”

“Oh, he didn’t know.” Gamora smirked with the little prank and she let Loki enjoy his mouthful of whatever that was; something dry and bittersweet. “So what do you want from us?”

“I want to be informed of Thanos’ movements and warned when he comes to the Nine. Your help and that of your group of misfits wouldn’t go amiss either.”

“I can inform you,” she said after considering it. “Peter would probably jump to his death if he heard his beloved Earth is in danger, but I can’t speak for them. The other eight realms are not their business. Asgard, they might care because it is an easy way to invade Earth next, but there is no guarantee. Then again, if there is a real chance of destroying Thanos, I could be bothered to kick their asses to that part of the galaxy to help. What’s in it for us?”

“The chance to kill him yourself. I have nothing of value. As I said, I’m technically dead. I’m nobody.” Lying to Gamora was one of those risks that he had mentioned earlier, but if she smelled gold she could ask of him more than he had any intention of giving.

“What about whatever Thanos is after?” Some days Loki hated negotiating with intelligent people.

“It is an unharnessed cosmic cube.” He risked a half truth.

“Ugh, too much noise for us: impossible to sell in the black market and a pain in the ass to hide. We’ll do it if you can get us a decent ship.” Gamora looked at the door and Loki tried to imagine what kind of rubbish they were using so he could find a better ship. It wouldn’t be difficult.

“We’ve got a deal. It will be adrift by tomorrow at these coordinates,” he said, writing down numbers and symbols with his magic, “and you can open a portal to my location with this whenever you have news of Thanos’ approach. I take you know how to use it?” He handed her a bloodstone and she nodded. “Then let’s get back before they engage the Vogons.”

When Loki and Gamora approached the table, Stark was taking a picture with his mobile device and he asked them to join the merry lot. They did so with a mutual roll of their eyes, which only made Stark’s smile widen, and then Loki was hustling Stark on their way back to Asgard, helmets firmly in place. Gamora waved at them with a secretive smile before leaving Milliways.

Loki actually let Tony drive until the galaxy they had seen on their way there. Not because he was feeling magnanimous, but because that way Stark wouldn’t ask awkward questions. They wasted an hour, when they could have made the same trip in less than twenty minutes. But Stark kept looping, accelerating and decelerating when he could have gone top speed in a straight line. He also whooped and cheered at each loop and he was contagious; Loki had not had such fun with one of those machines in the last thousand years or so.

When they changed seats, Loki took it as a challenge, again, and he made them skid and run until Stark was clinging for dear life, breathless and shouting in joy. Then he took them back through the portal, and so they had to switch off the lights and keep quiet or risk being discovered.

“Stark, are you sure you did not drink at Milliways? Your face is doing this thing where you look demented.”

“Very sure, babe, I wouldn’t risk forgetting something like this. My face is smiling and I’ll let you know that back on earth I was given the ‘Viastone Best Smile’ award twice. And it is no wonder I’m smiling. Boy, you can’t imagine the number of things I’m planning to change in my suit.”

“I would like to see that”

“Yeah, and you have to watch Star Wars, so you owe me a visit, if I manage to get back to Earth.” Loki didn’t have the time to enjoy the victory of the invitation when curiosity sparked at the second half of the sentence.

“If? Why would you not go back to Midgard?”

“It will not be as easy as clicking my heels and saying that I want to go home.” There, that was the reason Stark had been acting so defensive. Loki needed to know more.

“Why?” But maybe it sounded too eager, because suddenly Stark was tongue tied. Norns. Loki had been so sure that he had already earned his trust.

“Never mind; human stuff, Odin stuff, magic stuff, weird stuff, stuffed stuff,” Stark babbled again.

“I’m good with magic, excellent, even,” Loki prodded, trying to get something more out of the human. Stark was silent behind him.

“Maybe another day, I think this is my stop.”

Loki left Tony where they had met and Stark thanked him for not being a slave dealer. They joked and left an open discussion over good night kisses. Then Loki headed for the last mission of the night: the docks. He jumped into a ‘decent’, unguarded spaceship that might have been guarded a few minutes before. He headed to the main panel and disabled the locator, then he set the autopilot to drive to the portal and to the coordinates he had given to Gamora. Before leaving, he updated the records of the ship as “repairing” and left empty the spot for which house of repairs had the ship. It was a common mistake and nobody would notice the missing ship for, at least, a month.

He headed to Odin’s quarters to rest for a few hours before the sun rose, then he remembered that Mimir and the ashes were still in the pocket dimension. He resigned himself to another night without sleep, discussing how to reawaken the Fire Bird. However, as he reached the room, he left Mimir on the other side of the bed, ignoring his questions, and he opened the egg with the ashes. He fell asleep mumbling reassurances to both of them while he thought groggily that he wouldn’t mind more time with the human to figure out how to bring the Bennu back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just got away from a family kidnapping, still in time for the 'tomorrow' update. Thank you for all your comments, kudos and visits, they keep me writing and wanting to do it better for you.


	9. Aqua Concerto

It had been decided that they would sacrifice privacy for security and everyone had to sleep with their doors open. Tony had had a few horrible hours of sleep in the room where he could hear the agents having magic nightmares and shouting, begging to die. Therefore, it was far too early when Tony woke up the next morning to a mad archer jumping on his bed, but it sounded as if Clint had managed to teach someone how to make coffee, and he was not sharing, the asshole. However, he was sharing the schedule for the day, starting with the cleansing of the Midgarian victims of the scepter while the rest of the diplomats slept. Tony was required to go with his old arc reactor, no choice in that.

Nonetheless, Odin refused to include him in the general spell on the grounds that the energy within his chest would interfere. Tony was more than happy to wait in the back with the curious magicians who had come as spectators (and the ones who had come at Maria’s request). Unfortunately, it implied that he would have to deal with Odin later, and that he had to wait alone.

He was sure as hell not going to leave. Not with Clint sitting at the uru-inlaid table; visibly nervous and with a maybe overdose of alien coffee. The birdbrain had already pissed everyone off with coin tricks, refusing to tell how he manipulated matter without giving off any magic signature.

So Clint was not good company, and Idunn had picked up Jane as soon as she convinced Selvig to stay still at the table, telling him that nobody would take his new knowledge from the Tesseract, only the part of his knowledge being haunted by the scepter. Meanwhile, Maria was sharing intel with her new magical friends, Thor had left with the Asgardian warriors, and someone had snatched Steve to show him something artistic that Tony had not bothered to remember.

By the time Odin started cleansing, all the magic users from the previous day had gathered to snoop, but they were not good company either. It was quite exasperating, because they were all focused on the cleansing magic being worked, inspecting cues that he could not tell apart from casual gestures, and they were not as open to conversation when they were in close quarters with Odin himself. Tony was reduced to chatting with his phone’s AI (not even real JARVIS, because the mobile version was very simplistic) and recording the procedure.

What’s worse, Odin was giving him odd looks; it was creeping Tony out. It could have had something to do with how Tony kept muttering about network analysis in a magical context, how the table could work as a series circuit or parallel circuit depending on where they put their hands, or how Kristoff Laws for electricity were applicable to magic energy in this context. But it was too cool not to record it aloud, so he ignored the odd looks.

After the cleansing, the remains of the spell were encased in a glowing quartz-like crystal, while the magic users stayed to discuss their own business and Odin guided the humans out. Now that the agents were free of magic, they could go back to Earth with Maria to report. Tony got close to Clint and asked him how he was doing (in an offhanded way, because he was not worried). Clint was unusually introspective in his answer:

“I don’t know, man, it is weird.” Clint looked distant, but relaxed. In fact, all the agents looked a bit unfocused. “I’m kind of surprised, because I know that there is something different, but I can’t point out where; it is empty. Well, and I’m pissed off because Maria has just told us that we will be in quarantine for a while. How much is a while anyway?” Tony waited, because Clint had been too pensive for just a couple of sentences. They reached the Rainbow Bridge, and Tony couldn’t help but remember the previous night’s escapade, then Clint deigned to keep talking. “I’m … less … murderous. You know? I’ve wanted to kill, and hurt Loki as much as possible since I came back from the mind control, even knowing that the bastard is dead. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to put an arrow through his eye, just maybe not an explosive one.”

“So it is not just me!” Anonymous Frowny Agent to their right said.

“It’s the same for me.” Tony thought that the man on the front was the one obsessed with the Allspeak, but he had paid more attention to the aliens than the humans with him.

A chorus of agreements followed those first three comments. Maria had been listening too, so she asked if there was any meaning to it. Anonymous Bald Agent answered that he had the hunch that the Thanos guy of their nightmares wanted Loki dead even more than them. A new chorus of agreements could be heard with comments like: “The guy is going to be disappointed when he finds out.”

Many people had come to say their farewells and to go back to their worlds. Odin was at the front, giving a grandiloquent speech that was boring even for him. It was obvious that he was not putting any effort on this one. Tony used the chance to wish a good morning to many of his new partners in politics. He had to get rid of the young elf of the previous day as respectfully as the situation required, but he welcomed Gyöngy’s company when she quickly strutted towards him.

Tony noticed that the Dwarf didn’t wear the engraved steel chest-plates that the other Dwarves wore. During dinner, a Dwarf sorcerer had shown him the meanings of some runes and the status of some people. Tony wondered why she didn’t wear the chest plates, but her news took priority.

“I understand that someone from your group was asking about the Cupric Prince; he didn’t ask me, but now it is a rumor.” Gyöngy waited for Tony’s nod before continuing. “Apparently, we had a common friend: a refugee.”

“I thought you couldn’t take refugees if you wanted peace with Asgard?” Tony retorted.

“We can’t, that’s why I’m not telling you any of this.” She looked around them, making sure that they were far enough from enemy ears. “He was useful enough; worth the risk. He mentioned the Cupric Prince several times.”

“What did he say?” Tony was about to jump for joy: finally, a lead.

“Our friend said that he would have to steal this prince from Asgard; that he didn’t belong there. He probably said more, but I didn’t pay much attention. He was very private with his past, he didn’t even give us a name; we called him Turul.” Gyöngy fidgeted with the hem of her colorful, barkcloth tunic; that’s how Tony knew that there were bad news too.

“What happened to him?” It was the only obvious ‘but’ that she could be avoiding saying.

“He left. By what he left behind, we think that he was attacked and he ran away.” Gyöngy crossed her arms. “We lost his trace and that of his enemy; we don’t know where he is right now.” Tony crossed his arms too,but soon started rattling his fingers on his arc reactor as he thought about how to recoup his short-lived hope.

A thunderous knock came from the golden dome and everyone who had been distracted focused on the noise. Odin was using his spear on the floor of the dome; Hela was with him, so Tony assumed that what she had mentioned during dinner was true; she had convinced the ancient god of the gallows to open the Bifrost for her in exchange for an army against Thanos.

Tony had liked Hela last night; she had earned his respect in the same way as Natasha or Pepper: by being frightening, cunning, and able to tear worlds apart. She had also spent the whole dinner enumerating Asgard’s faults and laughing at everything Odin did. Tony knew that the queen was fishing for allies now that she was not isolated anymore. Why she had set her eyes on humans was anyone's guess.

Tony had noticed that the woman on the throne of Niflheim was sarcastic, had a very dark humor and a penchant for dramatics. He could definitely see Loki’s influence, and he realized that he didn’t really mind. She had talked about him during the feast and she had painted him in a very different light, but she had also apologized in his name.

In her opinion, the invasion of Midgard didn’t sound like the Loki she knew. The magic users surrounding them had their own opinions, and they didn’t mind that Hela was Loki’s … (Creature? Daughter? Friend? Student?) something. In the end, and among discussions of the former prince, Tony somehow ended up wishing that the bastard was alive to explain himself. Tony had already questioned S.H.I.E.L.D.’s crude report on the New York invasion, but now there were too many doubts planted; he would need to investigate more.

For now, Hela had left Odin by the Bifrost, and the representatives of Jotunheim had taken her place with him. Tony tried to overhear them, but he had had to deal with the young Elf again, and with Steve, who had come at the worst possible moment and wouldn’t let him just shove the clingy Elf away.

When the conversation ended, Aua (one of the Angakkuqs, or shamans, or whatever magicians were called in icy-land) and their Puppet Majesties passed right next to them; Tony seized the opportunity. He called them and the three approached; Voima had a blue cube in her hands and a disconcerted expression on her face. Her stature put the cube right at eye-level with Tony and he saw that it was not the Tesseract, not even similar.

According to the shaman, who was closer to Tony’s height, it was the Casket of Ancient Winters; the Jotnar equivalent of his arc reactor, and Odin had just given it away. He had not even wanted a war alliance yet; he had only asked for a period of peace, the promise of open trade, the forgiveness of both of his sons (present and absent), a copy of every recorded piece of Jotnar knowledge to complete Asgard’s library and permission to send scribes to record their oral history.

The blue aliens were baffled, and Tony didn’t really get it until they explained the function of the Casket and he mentally made the connection with his arc reactor. Odin could have asked for total submission and nobody understood why he had not. Steve had thought that Odin might be changing his ways, the young Elf had said that it was highly improbable, according to what he knew of the god, and Gyöngy had confirmed it.

“Don’t make your brains work too hard, comrades.” The Lady of the High Smoke joined them when she saw the little group.

The woman had short curly hair growing from the point of her nose, to her head, the outside of her ears, and down her back, but she had no eyebrows or lashes. Along with her lips, which stretched further than any human’s, and her translucent skin on the inside of her arms, under her jaw line or behind her knees, it was quite disconcerting. Tony’s first impression had been that the woman was unfinished.

It had almost been enough to overlook the fact that she dressed with just boots and gloves that covered the palm of her hands. ‘Almost’ being the key word, because the woman was a walking testimony to alien biology and how it could be not compatible with human conceptions of reproduction. Tony didn’t want to delve too much into it, because he was a genius, and he knew that there had to be a way to make biology work together, but it was not the time or the place.

Instead, he learnt that in Muspelheim they only covered the coldest parts of their bodies because cold was considered shameful. If Steve thought that he couldn’t keep it in his pants, he was wrong.

“I’ll sum it up for you,” she said to the group. “Many here know that something is amiss with Odin. None of you know, except you two,” she pointed to the Dwarf and the Elf, “because you are new in this game. But the oldest of us know that he must be under a spell, or under the weight of old age. Maybe the death of his wife really deprived him of his last supply of good judgment.”

“But nobody is going to mention it, because in his strange and hectic comings and goings he is somehow dancing to all of your tunes,” Tony finished for her, understanding the mood of the reunion a bit more.

The Lady of High Smoke nodded and kept talking as Hela noticed the group too, and came to join. “We are old creatures; we are experienced in tricks and twists of promises that leave room for backstabbing. His change is easily noticed here, but it is very difficult to see where it may come from or where it may lead.”

After that, the Jotnar questioned the noble lady about her own negotiations with the god. She was kind enough to tell them more about her revolution in the name of all the races suffering under Surtur’s yoke. Yes, human, there are dragons. No, Hela, I have not heard of fire shifters except in legends for a long time. Then Tony asked about Odin’s involvement and she showed them the Eternal Flame, hidden in a pocket dimension, enchanted to come back to Asgard’s vault it if was ever used to hurt Asgard or their allies in any way.

Somehow, Tony and Steve found themselves roped into taking Muspelheim refugees in Earth’s volcanoes, in case the revolution came to a bitter end. But, really, Tony was sold as soon as the words ‘dragon shepherd’ were uttered. Steve was not convinced about hiding it from the authorities, but he had a soft spot for war refugees. Other diplomats also promised to help in different ways, but all of that would be after their war with Thanos. From then on, the conversation evolved into who the Mad Titan was and what each knew about him. In the end, the group gathered around Tony was essentially the same as the previous day in the hall, with some substitutes.

The conversation went on for hours on end, until Thor found them. Then the conversation was quite castrated all of a sudden. Tony kept pushing, but nobody was sure of where Thor’s loyalties stood.

The prince of Asgard dragged the chatter to familiar topics, such as how his girlfriend was still with Idunn, how he didn’t understand Odin’s plans, and how he considered opening the Bifrost counterproductive, since his new mission was finding and placing guards on the portals between worlds.

Hela tensed at that comment without Thor even noticing, and the rest diffused the situation, changing topics again and interrogating Thor tactfully about that mission. Thor didn’t want to say too much, though he told them that he would need someone who knew the ways of Yggdrasil, because he didn’t remember the paths that his brother had shown him. Then he went on a rant that Tony had heard several times: He was sorry, he should have paid attention, he shouldn’t have taken him for granted …

Tony kind of understood it, but he didn’t have a family like that; he had only seen Thor’s interactions with the God of Mischief when he picked his little brother up in the jet the first time, when he threw the “adopted” card to get away from a difficult situation, when he had dragged him away in chains … Tony had not seen any brotherly love in either direction and some days he wondered if Thor missed his brother or if it was something entirely different. One day Tony would ask Natasha; she probably knew all that alien psychology family stuff.

Tony didn’t want to deal with moping gods right now, so he forced the Thunderer to concentrate by telling him about the red-haired magic user who had said “I know the paths of Yggdrasil better than most” last night. Tony was not about to mention that he had eloped with him for a few hours, but it was a harmless enough comment.

However, if they had thought the mood was killed with Thor’s interruption, it was nothing compared to the moment Odin approached them to sequester Tony to talk in private. Even Thor was wary; he had said loudly how bizarrely his father had been acting; he had been doubting his father thanks to Jane; he was doubting himself just as much.

Aua clasped her hand on Tony’s shoulder as a goodbye, but he felt the cold of a spell, probably to locate him or to eavesdrop. Tony was grateful; he knew that he had only felt something because she wanted him to.

On the bright side, he had finally managed to leave the Elf behind; on the other side: Odin. The old man had made most of the morning negotiations in public; Tony didn’t appreciate being an exception to the rule.

“Hey, your abrasive Majesty, where are we off to?” demanded Tony, restlessly matching his pace to the old god. “Workshop, dungeon, torture chamber?”

“I require a quiet place in which to inspect this working,” replied Odin evasively.

Tony decided he was having none of it, so he seized Odin’s arm to stop him and tell him more than a few things. He never got the chance. Tony didn’t know it, but Loki had woken up late, and in his haste to leave, he had taken the ashes with him instead of putting them in his pocket dimension. When Tony pulled, Odin’s armor moved and with it, the egg, which fell to the floor and opened.

Tony covered his eyes with one forearm when something bright and fast darted to his face. The thing butted against his arm harmlessly, but Tony shivered slightly.

“Human, are you unwell?” Odin asked.

“Don’t.” Tony pulled his arm from his eyes, shuffled backwards, and stared at Odin as if he could see through him. “I don’t know what you did, but don’t.” He turned on his heel and walked faster.

“Wait, human, we still need to know if the magic …” Odin tried to convince the obviously distressed human.

“You see me walking away, on Earth it means we don’t fucking care.” Tony didn’t even turn to say his piece.

“You won’t listen to me, but would you accept help if I sent someone?” Odin tried once again.

“Ha! I would like to see you try,” Tony muttered, too low for Odin’s hearing.

Loki in his Odin skin shook his head and sent a hard stare at the ashes. The ashes had taken the form of a kolibri, the only bird of Asgard that could stay still in the air. Loki looked back at the place where the human had been a minute ago. There were scorch marks on the floor. He could see small black fires like footsteps walking away from him. Loki picked up the egg and he hissed in the fire language.

“I warned you. He is not your bird yet. What in the name of everything that burns did you do to him?”

Loki turned into the red haired man, listening to the regretful ashes while he ran after the human, and thought of a new plan all over again. When he caught up with Stark, he had not reached the main group, so he called him and put on his best worried face. “Stark, are you harmed?”

Tony turned and waited for him. “Look! It’s the Ghost Rider of Space! How are you doing?” He seemed to perk up at his presence, but Loki was not about to underestimate the ease with which Stark donned masks.

“Odin sent me. He has given me this,” Loki gasped, as if out of breath, and showed him the open egg with the embers. “It was an accident, for once I think he is telling the truth.”

The ashes flew from their perch on the border of the egg. Tony seemed shaken under his fake cheer: in need of someone to confide, and if Loki had any say in it, that person was going to be him.

“Stark, you look pale, let us sneak into the kitchens.” He lead him in the right direction. Listening to the kitchen rumors was a perfect way of knowing how many of his plans were still on track. Also, food made people more pliable, and Stark was not complaining. The servants in the kitchens did complain, but Loki was too well versed on which cooks would take pity on a poor pair of scrawny boys (and the definition of boy usually covered everything below Odin’s age), so it was very easy to get away with exactly every ridiculous thing they wanted, and coax a human into a better mood.

“This is the second time you scared me, Stark. Is it a habit with you? Should I get used to it?” Loki said as he chewed on a fortunately not-poisoned piece of fruit.

“Sure,” Stark answered, “get used to it if you plan to stick around.” He swallowed the bun that a cook had given to him. “What is it?” He raised his sugar coated hand to indicate the ashes resting on the lid of the egg.

“The remains of a fire being,” Loki explained.

“When this touched me, I saw things,” he muttered to himself. Tony’s glassy look slowly receded as he thought over what he had said. “Not very eloquent, okay, I saw something like a short, grainy film behind my eyelids and then it was like it had installed itself so deep in my brain that it feels like memories.” Then he looked Loki in the eye. “Can you take it away?”

Loki shook his head and he used what the Lady of High Smoke and the embers had told him. “The ashes hold a thaumaturgic link to the creature; three or four thaums, depending on several variables. The link is created to protect the creature from the memory of death without damaging the memory of the creature. Now you have the memories, I can’t take them away; mind spells are very complicated and can have drastic consequences if something goes wrong. You should try to remember this as a fiction.”

“Wait, you mean to say that that thing died … but it is still alive.” Stark looked skeptical, but he just shrugged when Loki nodded. “So those ashes have leaked the memory in my cortex just because?”

Stark finished his sentence opening his hands and the kolibri chose that moment to land on his stretched hand; on his bare stretched hand. Loki didn’t contain a gasp in time, but he covered it with an answer.

“Not just because, I rather think it is affinity: to fire.”

“You mean that should have burnt me, right?” Stark looked at the ashes closely.

“This is not a conversation for the halls, we should find somewhere else. And we should check you for that remnant of magic.” Stark stopped, suspicious once again. He was probably wondering if Odin had ordered all of this, Loki couldn’t allow it. “If it helps, I gain nothing hurting you. Everyone would want to skin me if I breathed the wrong way next to you.”

“But what do you win by helping me?” Stark was not amused this time.

“Bragging rights for doing what Odin couldn’t?” Humor had very good results with Stark, but, apparently, there were different degrees of seriousness and right now he was very not amused, so Loki took a wild guess. “Oh, come on, I pick pocketed this stupid rock for this.” Loki produced the same crystal that he had used with the other humans and that did the trick. “I’m supposed to convince you to go back to Odin, but we can cheat a little and I’ll tell Odin that I misunderstood his order.”

The human looked at him as one would look at a favorite dish, and he was in a good mood again. Loki was going to get a headache trying to control this one. He was like Thor in many ways, but he was unlike any Aesir he had ever met. He was quick, and only predictable to a point …

“I … ok, your place or mine?”

… and couldn’t stay serious for a long time.

They chitchatted nonsense and they discussed thaums and basic magic until they reached Stark’s door, because ‘Odin would take Stark’s privacy with more seriousness’. When it opened, they found that Stark had a naked Elf on his unmade bed with only the Iron Man helmet covering him and a lustful grin on his face.

“What do you think you are doing? Out!” Stark spat, more annoyed than angry.

“It is hard to know with such subtle signs, but I think that he is inviting himself to your bed,” Loki muttered so only Stark could hear.

The Elf discarded the helmet, crawled positively lustfully to the end of the bed, walked right in front of them and hooked his fingers in Stark’s belt loops. Loki noticed the Elf using his natural charm-magic, but Stark didn’t seem enchanted, so he let it go.

“We have negotiations unfinished, I’ve come to finish them.” The elf was using his magic-infused voice, dripping seduction with every word, or so he thought. Elf seduction glamours were known for being faulty. “Yes, Stark, consider opening diplomatic relationships,” Loki parroted mockingly, not quite low enough.

The Elf seemed to notice that Loki was a bigger obstacle, but instead of complaining he looked to him up and down and grinned. “We could share, you know?”

“Dear, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t share,” he said, putting an arm around Stark’s hips possessively. “Please, do take into account who came into this room invited and who certainly didn’t.” Loki had a huge smile that held amusement and challenge, but not an ounce of politeness.

Stark got rid of the arm around him and of the hands in his belt-loops with a tired sigh.

“I don’t have time for sex, and, woa, I thought I would never say that phrase. I’m not interested, I don’t need help getting out of it,” that one was directed to Loki, “I don’t know how literal Elves are, but when I implied that I wanted to get nasty with you I was not very serious.”

“Yes, I know that,” the Elf said, now rolling his eyes and picking up his clothes. He didn’t look seductive anymore. “I just wanted to win the bet.”

“What bet?” Stark asked, finally taken aback.

“Bedding a human before you all are isolated on Midgard again, of course. There are incredible wagers,” he said with a grand, shameless gesture, not trying to cover himself.

“And your reputation as the son of the Bethmoora clan has nothing to do with it.” Loki crossed his arms over his chest and lifted an eyebrow.

“Two birds with one stone.” The Elf shrugged again.

“Fine! Once that is settled and we know that this is not a case of clashing cultures,” Stark sounded sweet, and then he didn’t sound sweet anymore “YOU CAME INTO MY ROOM WITHOUT MY PERMISSION, YOU TOUCHED MY THINGS AND YOU ASSUMED THAT YOU WOULD STILL BE WELL RECEIVED. YOU’D BETTER RUN NOW, AND STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY UNTIL I GET OUT OF THIS DAMNED ROCK BECAUSE IF I FIND THAT YOU GOT EVEN CLOSE TO ANY OF THE HUMANS, I WILL FIND A WAY OF KILLING YOU CREATIVELY.”

The Elf seemed properly scared, but he also looked pensive, and he wasn’t leaving. When Stark was about to physically throw him out, the Elf spoke again.

“Making the others call the bet off would appease you?” the little thing had the gall to say.

“I don’t think so, but you can try,” Stark said in a normal heated voice and only a bit thrown off.

“I apologize for my unbecoming behavior.” The Elf turned and walked out the door, still undressed. “And good luck.” He sent a wink to Loki before closing the door behind him.

“I won’t pretend I understood any of that,” Stark said ruffling his own hair.

“He is the son of the Bethmoora clan, known for their promiscuity and their kink for different races.” Loki sat on the bed, back against the wall, arms still crossed. “He has a reputation for using diplomatic trips as sex adventures. If you mean his sudden change: you scared him. The Bethmoora may be known for promiscuity, but never for interfering with diplomatic affairs in that way. He didn’t expect me to know his clan; if you told his parents, they would be merciless. And if you mean his politeness, well, he is the son of a diplomat; he only uses what he learnt when he wants.”

“Oh! I only knew about half of that. What about the leaving with his birth suit?” Stark put his helmet away before sitting across from him with his legs crossed.

“Common among the Elves: if he had managed to lay with you, he would have gone back with your clothes on; since he didn’t, he has to endure his walk back with nothing but his wounded pride.” Loki smirked, but then he realized there was a small detail that had intrigued him. “But let me ask you something, Stark, you have seen his back, and you were not repulsed, so why did you push him away?”

“Oh! The maggots, you mean. That is quite cool. Symbiotic ways of life and all that, but the pointy-eared brat has: one, invaded my privacy, and two, the face of a twelve year old. Disturbing.” Stark overdid a shudder. “However, we didn’t come here to discuss who I’d rather have in my bed. I think we came to finish a conversation and play with some magic.”

“Yes, we did.” Loki calculated every move so Stark would want to talk on his own. “What did you see when the ashes touched you?” Loki placed the open egg on the nightstand.

“Odin.” Stark didn’t elaborate, and Loki knew that he would have to hunt for answers.

“Just that? I have known you can be easily scared since yesterday, but this …”

“You are just leading me on to tell you more.” Stark had just thrown his first strategy to the wind with a well placed truth and a tricky smile. Second strategy, two could play the same game.

“Is it working?” Loki matched him smile for smile. He had learnt that people trusted more the other person if they were mimicking their expressions.

“Yes. But you must swear not to tell Odin. Would it work with you? The swearing thing?”

Curse Thor; he had shared too many secrets of Asgard with his humans and now Loki had to pay the price again.“It works with Aesir gods.”

Stark smirked. “And that is your way of not answering. You are not Aesir, then.”

 

Loki wanted to strangle him … in a good way, was that even possible? “Can’t you let me win? Just once.” He pretended to be offended.

“Not a chance.” Stark seemed to be just as amused as he was. It was serious, but it was a rule-less game.

“Well then, remember that I took you out of the Yggdrasil to a send a secret message that nobody should know about. You can put me in a world of pain with that; it is only fair that you give me some trust,” Loki ranted.

“Fair, I don’t think you are the kind of person to regard fairness as anything more than a concept.” Stark was avoiding the topic at hand, Loki needed to step back before they ended up too far from the original issue.

“Stark! It can’t be that bad. Just tell me, you insufferable moron!” Loki assumed the inflection that his mother used to apply when she wanted to know about his latest mischief, but she was not worried about it. By Stark’s short silence, it had worked.

“Odin was there; he said ‘you wouldn’t dare!’ and the other thing, the thing that died, I guess, said ‘Watch me.’ Then there was cold, like pinpricks and then like needles, and like stabbing, and like liquid nitrogen and then like … like space, like the void, and just as black. Just then Odin shouts ‘NO!’, like, homicidal levels of mad.” Stark looked at him to see if he was paying attention. “And then I blink and I’m back at the corridor with Odin in front of me with a calculating look in his eyes. I don’t like him, did I mention? But the thing is, that flash is strange, like a broken link. I don’t think it should be in my brain, there are already too many weird things up in the attic.”

Loki pondered silently, which seemed to make Stark uneasy. “Also, I think that they were in jail?” he tried to add to break the silence.

The aviary; Loki took that in too. It was not unexpected; the death of the fire bird seemed to have been an act of defiance, but it was too simple. There had to be more to it; that was not the core of the problem, and he didn’t have the time to think about it right now. What he had was a jittery human trying to appear in control.

“You already knew that Odin was no loving god, and, as I said, the memory is not that bad. You should not worry; it will heal on its own, unlike the traces of magic, if you have them.”

Loki sat upright and beckoned Stark to get closer. The human frowned, but he was more interested in magic than in understanding a transferred memory that he didn’t perceive as his own. Stark sat closer to him and watched his every move avidly. Loki made stupid, useless gestures just to see Stark following his fingers intently. However, before his magic could start to work on the mortal, it was snuffed. Loki stared unbelieving until Stark noticed his lack of motion. Then he touched Stark’s temples with a revealing spell and started to laugh.

“What is the problem?” Stark seemed vaguely aggravated.

“You are warded, Stark, and not just once or twice, you have the whole repertoire.” Loki trailed his fingers down Stark’s cheeks noting the different kinds of magic. “Some of these spells are put on pets so they don’t get lost, some are used on lovers so they know of the lover’s health, some are small spells that mothers put on their children, and some are strong wards put on worthy warriors. You seem to have made an impression, Stark.” Loki pulled the collar of Stark’s T-shirt to follow the pattern of one of the spells. “I don’t know all of them; I’ve never had the chance to study Jotnar magic, for example.” Loki turned Stark’s head to check one more pattern on his nape. “Consider yourself covered in friendly hickeys, mother lip stains and loose leashes. That’s why I laughed.”

“Can you still check?” Stark said, chuckling, but with a deeply furrowed brow and a touch of hysteria. Only then did Loki notice that he had been looking at the human as if he wanted to dissect him.

“Of course, who do you take me for?” Loki inspected Stark’s hands; there were matching veins of magic that Stark couldn’t see. “They didn’t have your consent when they put the spells on you, so I’ll have to unwrap a couple of them, but the spells will disappear on their own on a couple of days, or when distance breaks them, but it is feasible even before the spells wear off. Now kindly shut up.” But of course Stark couldn’t shut up.

“Can I see them?” Loki stared at the human because he was not used to people being interested in magic, much less warriors. Then he left the surprise aside and took all the threads of magic he knew in one hand.

“Magic can’t be seen, Stark, it can’t be heard or tasted.…” When Stark had the pout he had been looking for, Loki pulled the threads, calling the spells to the surface of the skin as he said, “Magic must be felt.” Loki was a showman; he had always enjoyed playing with people’s emotions and seizing their reaction; even on a small scale like this.

Stark breathed deeply. The spells used his life energy, so he would get tired very soon and Loki would need to let go, but in the meantime the spells were visible to him, given a certain value of visible. Loki knew the feeling of awe and disorientation; he had felt it when Frigga had used the same trick on him to teach magic for the first time. He had learnt to see magic on his own shortly after that, but the first shock was always the sweetest.

“I always thought that synesthesia would feel like this,” Stark mentioned. “Oh!” he looked at his arms. “I thought it would be like cool tattoos.” He took off his shirt. “But I’m like a letter with too many stamps.” He stood and looked himself in the mirror close to the door. “Or too many smells and noises, or textures, but hot and cold.… Ok, now I get what that sorcerer meant last night when I asked.”

“What did he say?” Loki asked, half politeness, half genuine interest.

“He said: How would you explain light or color to someone born blind?”

“Hmm. Suitable, I guess. Now come back here, we have things to do.” He let go of the revealing spell so Stark didn’t have a reason to ogle at himself in the mirror.

Loki took his time working magic, not because it was difficult — in fact, he had checked that Stark was not tainted by Thanos in the first ten seconds — but with so many wards, and the human so tense, getting into his mind to find the burgeoning flare of the Fire Bird was toilsome. In the end, he didn’t have the time to reach his goal; he had to end before he could even scratch the surface of the human’s maze of a mind. Instead, Stark provided a second riddle. He called it an arc reactor (an inoperative version); Loki called it the machine that kept the scepter from working.

He studied it, He studied it  for a few minutes before asking where to find the energy input piece. Then he turned it on with magic, just like he had done with the Nopeinpyörä the previous night. The machine reacted well to his magic and it didn’t have traces of the scepter, just like its owner, but Loki suspected that it was something truly special, a new kind of magic; he could feel it in the soft hum of the reactor.

It was attuned to the Tesseract, and the Mind Gem had been feeding from it, thanks to Thanos, who had refused to let Loki use his magic freely; that had been why the scepter didn’t work on Stark. If the device were modified properly, it would be able to nullify different kinds of magic, or channel them for a different use. It was a potential treasure just as dangerous and valuable as any of the artifacts that he had taken from Odin’s vault.

Loki could see what it did, but he didn’t understand how it worked, and the human had carried it in his chest to make an electromagnet work. It was like using the Casket of Ancient Winters to chill a drink. However, it was just like the fire bird: always creating wonders that were barely toys for him.

“Don’t think that I didn’t notice.” Loki was shaken from his reveries by Stark’s voice. “You made me comply with Odin’s wishes when I was dead set on disobeying him.”

“You don’t look enraged.” Loki left the machine on the night stand and he put the egg back in the pocket dimension.

“You are using me, just like everyone in this madhouse; those spells are only there because I have not outlived my usefulness yet.” Loki didn’t hear a single tone of hurt, but it was there, right behind the matter-of-fact pretense.

“I think you are underestimating how quickly you have endeared yourself to them.” Loki knew that many of the spells required some emotional attachment to the enchanted person. Stark didn’t, not yet.

“We will have to see how much of that endearment really works. But with you, I just don’t know what it is you want. I’ll find out, don’t think I won’t, but in the meantime, sharp minds are a wonder, and this whole meeting is like wit porn.”

Loki’s mind did a U turn with a new, dazzling idea. Stark didn’t understand magic yet, the fire bird had never bothered to learn either, but now he could…

“Want more?” he tempted.

“Another secret message?” Stark appeared interested already.

“Secret meeting this time. Water-born creatures are not well-liked in Asgard, Odin must not be seen negotiating with them, and so he will send me.” Lies: water-born tribes were nearly unknown in Asgard, and Odin had been seen giving the Casket of Ancient Winters back to the Jotnar; there was nothing worse than that offense. But Stark wanted to believe the worst of Odin, and Loki would use that to gain some time trying to reawaken the fire bird.

“I would not miss it for the world.”

There was another option. He had not even considered it before, but after talking to different people about the best smiths of the Nine Realms, he had concluded that the fire bird was the only one able to modify the gauntlet in time. However, if he couldn’t awaken the bird, he would need somebody else working on it. The human knew nothing about magic, but Stark had been audibly inferring magic theory while Loki removed the remnants of Thanos’s staff’s energy from the other humans. There was a small chance there, there was hope. If the human could focus on magic … If he could feel magic by himself … If he could learn … Maybe there was no other capable smith in the Nine realms … yet.

“We need to wait until Odin orders it, though. Meet me at the docks at sunset?”

Both of them jumped from the bed after Tony agreed to go. The human considered how he had wasted a few dozen jabs about being in bed when he watched that suede-clad ass leaving the room. He left his room to tell Steve that he wouldn’t be in until later and to look for him if he was too late; Tony was not about to trust Magic-fingers that much without knowing his game.

He had intended to tell everything to Steve, but the super soldier occupied his evening until sunset because he had seen the Elf coming from his room, undressed and with a disappointed face. Of course Captain America assumed the worst of him, so instead of explaining himself and risking not being believed, Tony waited until Steve was done and he dropped the news of his not being in his room that night. He made it sound as dirty as possible without even lying. It was so much easier being underestimated; so much easier being considered just the genius playboy who didn’t know how to be a decent human being.

That was the reason the meeting had become so much more. People from other worlds could see through his masks and still pretend that they didn’t. They knew how to play the game and how to appeal to his thirst for knowledge. It was the reason Jane was so busy with the apple i-nvestigator and it was the reason Tony was not racing to the Bifrost now that the magic was erased.

Tony was sure that Asgard was not like this every day; in fact, he was sure that he had not seen Asgard at all in the last two days. He could perceive it in the periphery. It could be seen in the looks of the servants and passerbys; in the astonished faces of the more seasoned diplomats when they were caught off guard. It was like a storm looming on the horizon and everyone involved wanted to be out of that planet before things went back to normal and the storm had the time to drown them.

In the meantime, Tony would play his part, but he had seen that he could honestly enjoy himself too, so he left Steve mid-sentence with a worried complaint still on his lips in search of the promised fun. He found his currently favorite redhead next to the first ship on the docks.

Skywalker (he really needed to find a nickname that wouldn’t distract him with light-sabers) rushed them to the clean side of the docks, telling him about the water tribes and announcing happily that they had brought their best Fossegrim. There were white marble steps leading to the water, but the sun had already set and they could only see dark shapes. Ships were not allowed to moor in that part of the dockyard, so the water should be clean.

Walker refused to use any light, because many creatures of the depths could be hurt by it. As a consequence, Tony fumbled until he mentally assessed the size of the steps while Potter over there walked with the ease (and the grin, Tony was sure even if he couldn’t see it) of a Cheshire cat, refusing to help.

They got waist-deep in the freezing water before Tony’s eyes grew moderately used to the dark and he started ranting again.

“You are aware that I’m still human, right? We don’t really see in the dark and we don’t usually breathe underwater, and with ‘usually’ I mean ‘ever’. I know that humans have not been around for a while, but that is kind of basic stuff.”

“And what do you propose? Helmets? I can provide that if you are scared again.”

Tony didn’t understand how his ego was surviving this trip. “I don’t know! Don’t you have gillyweed, or breathing spells or something?” The magic idiot just laughed again.

“If you were with Odin you wouldn’t get wet; since Odin is not in sight, we will stay here as a show of respect. However, they are the visitors; they are the ones who will use vests to breathe out of their element.” The man made it sound obvious, as if he had been learning protocol for centuries. For all Tony knew, that could be the literal truth.

A susurus in the water cut their conversation short; black blurs underwater became black shapes a few meters away, but Tony couldn’t see much, even with his eyes adjusted. His mind filled the gaps with scaly skins, webbed hands, fins, and tentacles. Instead of mermaids, his brain had decided to go Davy Jones style; it didn’t help that none of the water tribes spoke Allspeak.

Tony stood aside while Walker made the presentations and the creatures made … noises. More articulated than dolphin screeches, not quite melodic and probably made to be listened under the sea, although it did sound like talking underwater, with less bubbles. Tony could understand only one side of the conversation, so the whole thing was not exactly boring, just frustrating. All the information he got was jagged:

As he understood it, there was someone called Kraken, there was a whole species called the Nixe Sorority, and there were[ Qalupalik](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalupalik)s, who were from the seas under the ice of Jotunheim and looked like the silhouette of the girl of The Ring.

They came from different realms and Tony was not sure, but he thought that at least one of the species came from Earth. Not all of them understood each other either, so the redhead played the part of the translator for them; it meant that Tony could actually understand that too.

Apparently, waterborns were all isolationists. They used their own portals and their own magic, but they didn’t want to be left behind in the grand scheme of things. They offered their help in war, or at least that is what Tony thought. Mind games with only half of the conversation were terribly difficult, so Tony was not sure of what had been the fishes’ idea and how much had been planted by his companion.

There was also talk about trade and reaching each other easily, but they had a different concept of borders, like elves, as if there were no different realms, so Tony was not sure of what happened with that either. He knew that the creatures who had come were the surface-friendly. The deep deep creatures couldn’t survive the trip to places with less pressure. Tony had deduced that they had to be herbivorous, because deep predators were luminous, right? Right. That, and the fact that he didn’t want to imagine anglerfish heads or shark teeth in people he couldn’t actually see.

Tony was busy enough in his own mind to stay quiet and squish the temptation to turn on his new arc reactor and see. He had tried to participate, but it had been awkward and not very well received. So he had listened, leaving the spotlight to Walker. Walker was… graceful in everything that he did; graceful and smooth. Elegant should be added to that list too.

Tony didn’t know what Walker wanted, and that was the only reason he was not trying to fit in those thights with him.

After the debates were over, Walker instructed him to sit on the step behind them as he was already doing. The motion put the water level at Walker’s shoulders and at Tony’s mid-neck. Tony ignored it stubbornly just as he had ignored that he was waist-deep where Walker was hips-deep when they were standing.

Ok, this second outing was being much more annoying than the previous one. But the guy had a secretive smile, and Tony was a sucker for mischievous smiles. It probably was a bit narcissistic of him, but, hey! Tony Stark! No surprises there.

Then all the shadows retreated and Tony didn’t know if it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he thought that he could see them underwater, standing still in a circle.

“I mentioned the Fossegrim, did I not? These tribes bond over music, regardless of their language, and they have experts like this.” The redhead explained.

Maybe Tony should have said that he was not a concert kind of person, but now it was too late. He saw the shadow emerging in the middle of the not-so-imagined circle. It looked like a man with long hair and something like a fiddle on his shoulder. It also looked like he was standing somewhere solid, since water reached him mid-torso, but the marble steps should have been several meters below him. Then the figure moved and Tony had to readjust his first impression, because the thing on his shoulder was part of his arm, both of which seemed to bend in several places a human arm wouldn’t bend.

“And he sings?” Tony had thought that the thing on his shoulder was his instrument, but he was alone in the middle of the water. Maybe there was some truth to the singing mermaids and all those tales.

“He plays.” He stated plainly.

“Plays? Plays what?” Tony wondered if there was something underwater, of something that the shadows didn’t let him see.

“The kimia biola” Tony glared, Walker wouldn’t explain it; of course, he didn’t know why he had expected any different. The figure in the middle moved again, making water frizzle, splash and rising bubbles with him. Tony looked at his companion to know if that was all, but he had a poker face and Tony was not going to be fooled by the smug alien once again, so he shut up and waited.

It turned out to be a good decision, because in an upward gesture of the creature, water followed his hand with a sound like a bowed string and a finger in the border of a glass cup at the same time. First, it was a single held note, then a full chord. After that, he made a rolling motion and there was a small tubular wave that sounded like a wind instrument, but nothing that Tony had ever heard. Again a note, then a chord.

Tony could hear a melody picking up the path as lines of water filled the air around the player without going back down. Shortly after, the same movements were mirrored underwater with lines of bubbles. Tony was not a music man out of the music he liked, but he could appreciate the effort. Then his companion leaned close to and whispered “he has not started yet”.

Tony could believe it, he was not even surprised. The melody kept getting more complex as other sounds were added to the mix. However, Tony didn’t even realize that all those sounds were merely a preparation for what was to come. The sound died and Tony refrained from clapping just in time, however, Walker noticed, and Tony knew that he had been a silly foreigner again by Walker’s aborted laughs.

That’s when the creature started playing. Tony didn’t have time to think anything but how he was going to kill the redhead for not telling him that it was magic-music before the sound swept him off his feet. It could not be called music by any stretch of the word, or at least not only music. And it was not classical either; but it reminded him of a soundtrack.

Tony felt as if there was something that he should notice, but didn’t know with what. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was adrenaline in his bloodstream, the rest was lost in sensation. Yes, there was music, or something like it, that was trying to tell him something, but it was throwing his mind like a ragdoll and Tony was powerless to stop it, hard as he tried to stop everything.

Then there was a voice, and it was far more solid than the other thing, so he concentrated in that one. “Unfocus” it said, “the threads” Tony heard, “the flow” it repeated. The situation felt too similar to his panic attacks, just like the previous night, but it was also very different, it was not real, it could be a memory.

Tony was a reckless idiot, nobody would deny it, so he ignored the voice that was telling him to unfocus and relax. Instead, he used the not-music to focus on the feeling of panic. If felt… uncomfortable, but grounding. Once he had that pinned down, the vortex of unintelligible input started to make sense again, bit by bit. It was like code, at least his brain processed it like code; there were parts that were familiar and he could ignore them safely, and there were lines that he didn’t recognize.

He managed to isolate that feeling and he realized that he had closed his eyes. When he opened them, there was more input, but he followed the same steps and he found the strange feeling with his eyes too. It came from the player, and it was quite overwhelming, even isolated as it was. Tony could feel a story in it: something unspecific with the flavor of legends and the ring of adventure. That is what was making his blood race in his veins, and it was beautiful.

“That should have taken a lot longer.” It was the same voice. The redhead, he remembered, the one next to him; he had slipped his mind. Taking his eyes from the player was very difficult, but he needed to know why that voice sounded so strange. He found the eyes of Walker and he read curiosity. “What did you do?”

“I think I built around panic?” Tony answered, still confused about what had happened.

Walker shook his head “That’s not how it is done.” He looked back at the player “you didn’t listen to me. The shock could have shattered your mind if you had kept pushing away. I thought that I would have to drag you away or make you deaf for the night, but you did something drastic.”

“What was supposed to happen, then?”

“You were supposed to let it happen, let the magic flow, get used to it for a few hours, it is a process to acclimate to magic faster than learning it the old fashioned way. But I think that you used an anchor to find the source of distress and analyze it.” Tony looked back at the player too, but now he could listen to Walker at the same time “Blunt, rushed and not very artistic, but incredibly efficient.” Walker sighed. “I’m condemned to be mistaken with you, am I not?”

“And now?” Tony was going to refrain from killing him, just this once, because it had turned out right; now he was ‘acclimated’ to magic and that could only be good news.

“Well, my plan was to wait until you were ready, but now we can stay and savor the event at our leisure.”

By the time the show ended, Tony was dripping water from the neck down and he had not brought any other clothes, so he was shivering despite the mild weather and smiling like a mad man because he could choose to see magic. He could see the spells on his skin fading very slowly and he could feel the spells that Walker wove for him to see. It was tiring and it gave him a headache, like crossing his eyes for too long, but it was there.

They spent the way back talking about the not-music and the limits of the sight. It was amusing and Tony thought belatedly that he wouldn’t have someone to discuss magic on Earth. He would have Bruce and Jane but it wouldn’t be the same. He pushed that thought away with a joke as he usually did, even to himself.

“I’m so calling that a second date. The only thing missing is a goodnight kiss, don’t you think?” He said when they reached his door. His tone made it perfectly clear that he was joking; he didn’t want a mistake there.

The redhead fluttered his eyelashes, saying “Keep going with the flirting and I’ll appear in your bed with nothing but your helmet.”

Tony had snickered, sure that this wouldn’t bring him more problems than the ones he already had.

“Promises, promises.”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was no chapter last week because I have someone trying to keep me from writing fics, and there won't be chapter next week because I will spend it on the sea, without wi-fi or computer. But I managed to bring you this today! I'll answer all the comments when I get back. Until then, I hope you liked it; thank you for the kudos, visits, bookmarks and your lovely comments. Don't forget to enjoy your summer!


	10. Goodbye Asgard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everything, your comments keep me wanting to write.
> 
> Fair warning/trigger warning: blatant racism and racial fetishizing.

****

In a different branch of Yggdrasil, a steady series of whirrs and beeps was interrupted by JARVIS’ voice. Four heads rose from their stations. They were hoping that the AI would bring good news, but they didn’t dare to expect such a thing. Stark Tower inhabitants and guests were not known for receiving a lot of good news. They had grown somewhat pessimistic.

Natasha was used to things getting worse before starting to get better and she had been for so long that she didn’t remember a time when it was not true; Rhodes had known Tony for a long time, that was explanation enough on its own, and Darcy didn’t have any expectations since the day a god fell from a thunderstorm. Bruce was the only one with a smidge of hope, and only because he had leant the hard way that sincere hope was the best way of not giving up on everything.

The situation that they had was not an encouraging one either. There was not much to expect when some friends were sent to the God of Gallows’ domain right into what was probably a trap. That’s why Natasha and Bruce had been about to break into Jane’s laboratory when Darcy found them and opened the lab, partly for altruism and partly in spite for being left behind, again. Rhodes had known about Tony through Pepper and he had offered his unconditional help and discretion, just a few hours later.

Bruce would never understand their friendship. They shot each other down on a regular basis or they ignored each other, even when they needed help. They were inconsiderate to each other, constantly; and yet, sometimes they had really deep and touching gestures to protect the stupid friend who had nearly sent their career to the ground just last week.

Despite not understanding their friendship, Bruce had been very grateful for having a rocket scientist by his side. Reading Dr. Foster’s work was difficult on its own. Reading about half–constructed theories was even worse, and trying to translate theory into a working machine was stuff to fuel the nightmares of several Nobel Prizes and then more.

Natasha had proven to be very good with software; Rhodes dealt with hardware; Darcy guided them through Jane’s machines. She had written a report for her internship, after all, and taking all the bullshit away, she had learned everything else by heart. Not that she understood it, but that was not needed there. Pepper had been around too, worrying and trying to offer help, but she was also multitasking: trying to take down SHIELD.

She had cut the flow of money, even to the parallel organizations. Then she had tried to find a way to render useless any piece of weaponry or technology that had come from SI. At that point she had stumbled across the new repulsor engines that Tony had sent for something like helicarriers. There were files that not even JARVIS could access. Shortly after, some shady people had contacted her to make the organization burn, and she had found some worrying links with other business that she didn’t like.

Pepper had asked Natasha for help. The chance to destroy SHIELD was just a mail away, but Tony had called her a hero more times than she could count, even after they broke up. She felt like a choice like that would tip the balance to the dark side, so she let Natasha in. Pepper would find a different way of making Fury miserable for tricking her and taking Tony away. Happy had learned to be very afraid of her in those two days.

JARVIS had been supervising everything and supplying information when and where it was needed. Afghanistan and the cave were long behind, but JARVIS remembered everything in his memory bank. Every time he accessed those memories, he could remember each minute just as clearly as the day he lived them. How he had kept the workshop ready for Stark to come back, how the pieces of news had piled up, how he had been unable to help in his safe return.

JARVIS had learnt many things since that time. He wouldn’t let it happen again. If the humans were working to get him back, so was he.

They were like tense wires, and JARVIS made them resonate when he announced that he had something. Natasha had asked first about who had made it back and everyone was disappointed when they heard that it was not the whole group. They would keep working until everyone was home safe. It was true that they would fight harder for their friends, than for a bunch of unknown agents, but they were heroes, not saints.

After knowing the whole list of people who had come back, Bruce had asked for a visual and to open the microphones while the readings from the uniforms loaded in the main secure server. Rhodes came close from his spot on the floor, next to their prototype, to see the screens where images were quickly flickering. Rhodes had asked to isolate Tony in the images as soon as they were loaded. Bruce had wanted JARVIS to start the protocols that Tony had designed before leaving. It was an unnecessary order; of course, JARVIS had started them as soon as he had had access to the files.

Natasha had fled the room, leaving the group to their screens, but JARVIS could still listen to her conversation as she called from the elevator.

“Barton, I assume you are back on Earth.” JARVIS always had to put his whole processor into the facial expression recognition subroutine to understand what the woman was thinking. Right now, his processor was still multitasking in the lab, so her face was a mystery for his software right now. Tony had labeled it ‘poker face’ for him. He had to conform with applying human behavior to her current situation and, as Tony said; guesstimate. He guesstimated that she was worried.

“You assume right.” The archer, on the other hand, had always been easy to read, even if JARVIS had made more than one mistake, because he covered pained expressions with amused ones. He sounded happy to be back; not worried like Natasha. In turn, JARVIS thought that it was safe to imagine things had gone better than expected.

“You sound alive, that is new.” Still a poker face.

“Ha, ha, Tasha, ha, ha. Do you want the Fury–report or the friend treatment?” Clint sounded distracted. The noise of the crowd behind him kept going down, so he was probably getting away from the clatter to listen. His hearing aids could only do so much, especially through a mobile phone.

“Both.” Still a poker face. Not even her voice wavered enough to get an easy reading.

“Fine by me! Fury; mission finished, no casualties. Nothing went according to plan, but we are clean, safe and more or less sane. Now, the friend version would be much better over a beer, or coffee that makes sense, and even better if I don’t have to repeat it to everyone a hundred times.” JARVIS had most of his processor power still in the laboratory, but his voice speed matched patterns recorded during a caffeine overdose.

“What about the assets you left behind?” Still a poker face, but JARVIS knew that Natasha was asking about Stark, rather than Steve and Jane.

“Fine, safe too. I’d prefer to explain without more ears than necessary, but I think they would be back to Earth in a blink if something went wrong. It is not worth a red code or even a pale yellow code.”

“Good. Clint, I’m going to pick you up, I need to see you face to face, anyway. You know as well as I do, that Fury’s decision to ignore my report came out of the blue.” Silence on the other end of the line. “There might be a reason.”

That was interesting; JARVIS would need to find a way to listen in that face to face.

“Tasha, I have bad news. I’m in quarantine to prove that the cleaning worked. My clearance is little more than a civil.” JARVIS checked with his latest data; it was true. In fact, it had been true for the last ten minutes. “If someone hears that I’ve participated in a mission I’ll be dead in an hour, or worse, expelled.”

“It is no time for jokes, Barton. This could be big.” There was the shadow of an emotion on the Widow’s face; annoyance, maybe.

“Sorry, Tasha, I’ll have to lay low for a while. Without my clearance, I’ll be like a neon sign with ‘suspicious’ on capital letters. You don’t want a neon sign with you on a mission.”

Now the silence came from Natasha’s end of the line.

“Tasha… Keep me updated anyway.” Clint sounded sad and worried. With Clint, JARVIS had only recorded that voice pattern in one to one conversations.

“I’m on my way there.” Back to the poker face.

Then Natasha hung up and instructed him to inform Pepper of the situation (already done, of course, but JARVIS was used to receiving orders that he had already anticipated; his only reason to hide the extent of his efficiency was to keep up the pretense of being less capable than humans. Clint had already gone through a marathon, in private, or so he thought, of all the films about technology uprisings that he could find without the need to scare him further. His own creator was the only one aware of his development, and JARVIS was glad of his madness every time the inventor marveled at his code instead of trying to contain him, as the logic of a sane human would suggest.)

Natasha left the elevator and the tower altogether. However, her phone was switched on; he could locate her anywhere, unless she put an effort in hiding herself. The cameras of a million starkpads could follow her progress through the city. JARVIS’s roots were far–reaching; a bit farther each day, it was still not enough to contact his creator. Asgard was off limits and that had to change.

An insurmountable distance and time away, far from his cameras and scanners, Tony missed everybody very much. For him, this morning could be dubbed ‘The Dullest Morning Ever’, or at least the dullest morning in the last few weeks. And saying such a thing while on an alien planet was a big thing to say. But it was true!

Tony Stark and strategy, and playing with others, and following orders, and making compromises, and… no, those were not terms anyone would associate with him. Strategy and working in groups were all nice and good until someone disagreed, then it was hell and a lot of control. It was even worse when he was the one disagreeing, he didn’t like giving up control unless he had already planned to. This looked like one of his SI meetings and he didn’t like that one bit.

Furthermore, his new allies had left, or were not sitting at the table with Odin. The dwarf woman, for example, was standing beside her king, like everyone of some importance who was not royalty or the planet’s equivalent.

The point that made Tony exasperated enough to roll his eyes until he could end up with a case of permanent blank eyes was that everyone knew it was meaningless. Everything really important had already been said, everyone with strong connections had already left. This was a game of smoke and mirrors to keep the powers-that-be happy. Some rulers were actually powerful, but even they knew that this was a farce that only needed their signatures.

Nevertheless, Asgard thought that it was something Huge, capital aitch, and there were Asgardians present who had not come close or bothered to talk to them in the previous days. It was so ‘important’ that Idunn had been driven away to snatch Jane from her claws. Tony was used to that too: real negotiations in private and mock negotiations in public for the journalists, none of the nasty pull and push that had taken place previously. He didn’t like that either.

The whole table of wolves was dressed in the white wool of sheep. They were defending their lands and their way of life, fighting with metaphorical teeth and claws, but it was not enough for Tony. He wanted the diplomats to be bold, daring and cheeky as he had seen they could be in the last days. This was just booooring, and he could predict what they would say.

There had been a conversation with Odin too, in the hall, before the general meeting. Tony had annoyed Steve with the argument that Captain _America_ could not sign any treaty in the name of the entire human race. There had been some patriotic and philosophical arguments with a side of Thor offering himself to represent EarMidgard –sorry, it was _Midgard_ in front of Odin _–_ because he was the protector of the realm. Then Jane had stated clearly the reason Thor would be seen as a conqueror and an intruder if he even thought about it.

Odin had tried to say that he understood the situation and that he only wanted their individual collaboration and their resources, but the conversation took an unexpected turn when the god of gods used the phrase “I understand nobody has come out on top of the wars of your realm yet.”, words that Tony remembered saying to a certain trickster, not to the tyrant of Asgard. And “come out on top” was not something in Thor’s vocabulary, so it was probably not part of Odin’s either.

When Tony questioned the turn of phrase, Odin seemed shocked. He reluctantly admitted that he was not the wise king that everyone assumed he was. He had taken the knowledge from Loki when he was in his cell, that’s how he had learnt about Thanos. Then he regaled them with many other details about their new enemy.

Captain Goldenheart America asked what interrogation methods they had used to make Loki talk, because the Avengers hadn’t managed to get shit out of him. He said it with politer words, befitting of a national symbol, of course, and in a tone of voice that held as much suspicion as dread.

Before Odin could lie through his teeth, Thor jumped at the opportunity of talking about his brother.

“Nothing! Am I right, father? With my brother it was always nothing that worked best. Even when he was a young boy and he did not confess his mischief, father put him alone in a room with nothing to do and he always ended up telling the truth and more. He liked to pretend that he enjoyed being alone, but he could not stand it for long.”

Tony and Steve were biting their tongues while Thor was smiling sadly, as if remembering the good old days. Odin looked relieved, which was not a good sign. However, their reactions paled to Jane’s, of all people, who stepped forward, right in front of Odin.

“That is solitary confinement; it is considered torture in many countries on _Earth_.” Her voice was low and it reminded Tony of the time he had seen someone try to take her investigations away, again.

Odin was quick to remind her that Loki had been a bad, bad boy who had tried to kill everyone present at least once. Furthermore, he described how Frigga had alleviated his punishment over time, against his orders, so they shouldn’t care, and how it didn’t matter because he was dead now. Thor had tried to say something too, but Jane didn’t let him.

“Thor, here is some news for you; if you lock me away for long enough, I will also confess to every crime on Earth and out of it.” Jane was calm, but she checked with the other humans to know if they would have her back if she crossed a line.

Of course they would, and their defensive body language was enough to prove it. Jane had Tony’s absolute seal of approval and Captain America was not far behind. Thor looked at them too, in search of help, or understanding.

“Don’t look at me, I’m not exactly a moral compass, and I’ve wanted to ask some questions to that magic asparagus since Queen Hela prompted a conversation about him the other night.” Tony threw his hands in the air as if being mistaken for a moral guide was a physical threat. Thor turned to Steve, still confused.

“Thor, we should probably talk about how justice and fair trials work out of this realm.” Steve talked carefully; making it obvious that he was not blaming Thor. Said God crossed his arms, willing to wait for an explanation until after the party. That was one of the many reasons Steve was the leader of the Avengers, he could manage situations that the rest of them would brush off with a joke or plain old ignoring it.

They focused on Jane again, who was far from over.

 “In my version of things, your son was crazy, power hungry and inconsistent. I’ve had to listen to a mayor in politics talking about how inconsistent he was for maybe two years now, so I know what I’m talking about.

“My visits to Asgard are proving her right; I’m no longer surprised he went mad here, but I’m more and more surprised he saved my life in Svartalfheim when I was no longer part of his plots. A psychopath or a sociopath wouldn’t do that, so he was not just crazy or just power hungry.

“I wish he had faced a human court, because now we will never know why he did anything and we won’t have any way of preventing it _when_ Asgard produces a new resentful god with enough power to try to conquer a world. Something that will happen again if it is not already happening now, thanks to your merciful ruling, oh, allfather.”

And everyone thought Tony was going to be the first one to hit the dungeons… Even Steve, who was always the first in line to stand against bullies, had let her talk; he seemed satisfied with her speech. Tony had not known anything about the saving-her-life part, she had not mentioned it before, and Thor… maybe Thor had mentioned it and Tony had just ignored him, but he was pretty sure that the big blond had only said that it had been a redeeming warrior’s death.

After that, Thor tried to defend half-heartedly the confinement, saying that his brother had been strong and a warrior, Odin (with what was probably murder in his eyes) tried to dismiss the whole thing saying that Loki was evil, and a frost giant, and jealous, and trying to manipulate them, and several other _ands_ that didn’t sway Jane one bit.

That had been the epic highlight of the morning, and it had not ended up with Jane in Jail. Quite the opposite, from that point on she had been quite active taking decisions about Earth and making proposals. Thor was visibly proud even though he knew that there would be a long talk about human culture and ethics when they were back.

Tony suspected that introducing Jane to the apple woman had been a mistake on Odin’s part. Apparently Idunn didn’t like the one eyed god much, and both had been talking more than science. Tony had not had much time to talk with her, but from comments here and there he could guess the topic of some of those chats.

Later, during the meeting with the rest of the leaders, Odin presented Thor’s mission to map the space-shortcuts in detail so the prince would have the freedom to roam the nine at his leisure (not that he didn’t have it before) and he explained who was Thanos and why he was bad for every living thing (except he used fancy words like nefarious).

All in all, it was not _completely_ boring, but Tony was glad that they put an end to it with their signatures.

He was not as glad that he had to leave right after finishing. He could not say goodbye to the wizards, because they were secluded working on something for Odin, and he couldn’t thank them for the things he had learned. He couldn’t talk to the dwarf lady about the mysterious refugee, because her king and his entourage were thanking Odin for his help with some revolts in their lands and asking him for help with some filtrations that only certain magic could solve, or something like that. He couldn’t find the redhead either, so the Bifrost swallowed Jane, Steve and him, and left Tony feeling half–finished with everything Asgard–related.

But business was far from over in Asgard, and things went on without Tony. For Loki, things went on that evening at a popular tavern where warriors usually met. There were skins of the most ferocious creatures on the walls; customers brought them to show off. There was a rack behind the counter where everyone had to leave their weapons if they wanted to be served. The owner had learnt the lesson after too many brawls ending in blood or his furniture being broken or burned. For that same reason, chairs and tables were always new, mismatched and made of soft wood.

For the last nights, the owner had seen the regular population increase. His usual drinkers were uncomfortable with so many ulkomaisia, foreigners, and they had come here to complain, surround themselves with as many Aesir as possible, and feel less invaded. A couple of elves or mages or something like that had tried to come and drink, but they had seen the bunch of irked Aesir warriors and they had retreated quietly.

Which was just fine, because the owner didn’t want to add _magic burns_ to his usual list of damages.

But everything was fine now, because the outlanders were leaving and Odin would probably explain why they came in the first place. There was all kinds of rumors circulating, but considering the paranoiac tendencies of those interested, he was not inclined to believe that Odin was looking for a new wife, for example.

Everything would be fine very soon and the atmosphere had already calmed down a lot. That’s why the strange couple sitting at one of the tables had not been slain yet. The red–haired man was probably fine; he looked a bit strange, but things like that happened when the Aesir prowess met a female from other lands, they just couldn’t resist and weird things were born as a result.

The woman, on the other hand; she was absolutely unacceptable. She was infamous and she bore her crimes on her skin, her presence was unacceptable, but they knew that she could drag them back with her to the land of the dead souls, so nobody mentioned it.

All in all, it was a quiet evening. Fandral and Volstagg were still complaining about their last visit to Midgard. It sounded different when they told their tales. Thor, and lately Siff, made it sound more civilized –Hogun never told tales– and the ale drinkers liked the two warrior’s tales better, despite Thor being their prince. Their tales fit better their idea of what Midgard had to be.

Tonight everyone agreed: it was good that the ulkomaisia had left, so the tavern would maybe avoid damages tonight. It depended on the couple’s behavior.

In truth, the couple in question was not two, but three beings and a half; Loki had brought Mimir and the ashes to keep talking to Hela and detailing his plans. Nevertheless, right then he was paying attention to the groups behind him: their theories and their fears, but also their lascivious thoughts on foreign flesh. It was disgusting.

Before his fall, he had listened to their stories and he had not minded them much, the Aesir way of being, he supposed. He had taken advantage of those stories and that simple way of being in the past and he would take advantage of them now again, but he couldn’t distance himself as they wondered if their dicks would fall off if they put it into a frost giantess.

“What if you get stuck!? You would not be able to kick her out in the morning!” One of the men roared laughing.

“Yeah, better kick them out before they have a chance to open their foul mouths. I hope they all leave before they start to pass their filth around.” Loki was not sure if they meant illness or bastard and mixblood children this time. They had already mentioned both in the last hours.

“They should have never come.” A different man stated, relaxing in a chair very close to their table. Loki found his chance there, so he turned around to face the man who had talked.

“Well, they were summoned, they didn’t have a choice, did they?”

“And they should have refused to come! Do we ever go to their lands to disrespect them?” The same man was not relaxed anymore. The owner started to hide the most delicate objects of the room.

“Well… we do go from time to time.” Volstagg seemed mildly uncomfortable admitting it, Fandral looked defensive, but he did not need to talk. Someone else came to defend them.

“It is not the same thing! We go to pacify their lands! They should be thanking us and kissing the soil we step on.” The man took his ale and raised it “Are we, or are we not Gods?!”

There was a round of cheering, toasting and shouting: “Gods we are!”

“Odin should not have summoned them then!” The man with the ale shouted “He is slipping! Too old to function.” The first man chorused “He should have made a trap and killed them all.” A rather aged man gave his opinion “He is scheming with our enemies too much. The elves, the magic, I say it is hogwash.” A blond man growled.

That was exactly where Loki wanted the conversation to go. He was in control here, even if they did not know it. However, he was very close to the end of his plan on Asgard, and he was not finished. He had spent the whole day reminding himself of the many unfinished business that he needed to see to before he left. Maybe Mimir was right and he needed to slow down.

**_Loki would need to prepare to awake Odin with enough time to escape._ **

**_He would need the red haired disguise to be seen with Odin too._ **

**_He would need them to leave at different times._ **

But right now he was in the middle of one of his smaller plots. He needed to concentrate, he needed to finish this. He put on a concerned face before speaking.

“But his methods work, see what happened with that woman, the sorceress…” Loki pretended not to remember.

“Amora, the sorceress” Hela helped, intrigued despite knowing most of what was going on.

**_And regarding sorcerers, he would need to pick up his new spell in the morning._ **

“What happened with her?” One of the bulky guys asked, falling right for Loki’s trick.

Loki told them about her capture and how there were two outlanders, women no less, guarding her cell, feigning surprise that they didn’t know, but saying that there was probably a good reason for Odin not telling anyone. He made sure to praise the foreigner’s strength and how they were the only ones allowed to go down there. Loki could see them getting more and more pissed off with each of his words.

“Ha! That will not happen on my watch.” The loudest man said when Loki finished “Anyone here could do better than those two.”

“Of course!” a second man was encouraged to talk “Those pointy eared ulkomaisia harlots would never stand a chance against us.”

Loki could not care less who was talking as long as the conversation was well directed, but it was still impossible for him to concentrate. Every two sentences, there was a word to spring a memory of something to do.

**_And he would need to introduce the mage builders to the dwarves to make good on the promise ‘Odin’ made._ **

“How can they be expected to guard a prisoner!?” The shouts went on.

“And who is paying them? Because I hope they will not see any Aesir gold any time soon.” Loki had stopped paying attention when a group silently paid, picked up their arms and left with a somber expression.

“Who says the prisoner has not escaped yet? Everyone knows those ulkomaisia are all liars, they would not sound the alarm if they are still being paid.”

Loki turned back to Hela as the group closed the door behind them. The discussion would continue, but the gears were turning, soon it would be done.

“Guess which man–controlling sorceress is going to have a visit tonight of very male men, intoxicated, easy to control and armed to the teeth tonight.”

**_And ‘Odin’ would need to address Amora’s escape publicly; he had neglected public opinion a lot lately, not that it really mattered, since he was leaving, but still…_ **

“I know that Amora was like a friendly enemy for you, but I don’t see why you want her free.” Hela was mostly right, he had worked with Amora more than once and more than twice; that did not make them friends. He had thought that the Warriors Three were his friends, and now… now he was not sure friendship existed beyond ties of interest.

“For selfish reasons, of course” Mimir made himself known “He took the hooks from the humans and himself and transferred them to her when he sneaked to the dungeons with the guise of a maiden sent to get them food.”

“Mimir,” Loki sighed “never turn to crime, you would starve as an evil mind.”

“What?” Mimir looked at both of them, “It’s Hela. You were about to tell her too, I’m just saving her your dramatics.”

“Wait, but Amora used to be your friend.” Hela was not shocked, but she was not happy either. She had never been too pleased about his less than honorable methods, although she had never outright disapproved of them like his… like Odin and Frigga.

“We only used each other. Anyone who ever called themselves my friend leant very early on to survive the worst. She will get rid of the spell before Thanos finds her. I needed someone able to make Thanos follow far away. And I know that she will be out of the Nine by tomorrow morning.” Loki knew how Amora would react down to the last blink. Thanos was more unpredictable, but he would follow the signal if it looked like Loki was running away with the Tesseract and a bunch of slaves.

Hela sighted, “I think we were talking about something when you decided to push a small mob of drunkards to the walls of your own castle.”

“I think we were, indeed.” Loki went back to that morning’s talk, which had been almost disastrous far too many times for comfort. “You were telling me why I found one of the humans this morning telling me that you had started a conversation about me.”

“Which _you_ do you mean? You are hard to track these days.” Hela admonished.

“You know exactly what I am talking about.” Loki tried to avoid catching the other customer’s attention; he wouldn’t say the name of the infamous prince here and now if he could avoid it.

“Oh, you mean _dead_ you! Why do you care? He’s dead, right? Or is he going to come back _again_?” Hela was being difficult. Loki should have known that she would forgive, but not forget easily.

“Do not do that. My identity should be no concern of yours, and if you had not interfered it still would not be. Tell me why you started that conversation.” Loki was out of time, and Hela would not have time either if Thanos came to the Nine too early.

“Your identity is my concern when you make it my concern. That conversation wasn’t about you,” she pointed at him seriously, “but about the one I was talking to.”

**_Oh! And he needed to find a way to make Stark work on the gauntlet, in case he could not bring the fire bird back._ **

“And that is the reason I want to know why you started that conversation.” Loki wanted to trust her. He wanted to think that she would help him instead of starting to be _noble_ now, but he was not comfortable without his lies, without control.

“I wanted to check how well warded were his memories, instead of poking with a magic stick at the first opportunity like you would probably do. You were just the easiest memory I could relate to.”

Loki would like to say that _poking his mind with magic_ was not the first thing he had done, but he didn’t want to lie when Hela was volunteering information so freely. “What did you find?”

“Nay.” Too freely, of course, _Hela_. It had been too long without playing with her. “You will explain every single way in which I can help your plans to move along. You won’t leave me out. You will tell me if you come back to life or if you are going to die with a day’s anticipation _at least._ And you will let me call you father.”

“I am not your father.” Loki said, trying to gain some time.

Hela smiled, seeing through his small trick, but not minding the comment. “Not your father, not Odin’s son, not an Aesir… You should start to define yourself with things that you actually are.” And Loki liked that turn of the conversation even less.

“Nevertheless, that is not negotiation; that is extortion.” Loki looked at her fondly “That is my Hela. What do you have?”

“Well, I know that direct memories are out of reach, but I think some instinctual knowledge has stayed.” Loki hadn’t actually agreed to any of her terms, but she need not know that until later.

“What kind of instinctual?”

“Not magic, shifting, or self recognition, but knowledge of the world must remain and any emotional attachment probably had to stay or be lost forever, but without memories it is just floating free in his mind. That is why I tried to plant some memories of you. And it worked! I think he used to like you. At the very least you amused him.”

Loki was very unimpressed with Hela’s information, even less impressed with her defiant smile.

“I do not think he would be amused at all if he knew that he scared me when I was a kid. I did my research and I learnt three ways to kill him before Odin took us there for a second time.” Thor had always coped with fear by hitting the thing, Loki had always run away to prepare for a possible strike. Thor tried to hit the fire bird one night, when their parents thought that they were in bed, the bird flew just of reach, Loki had considered his method the best one from that day on.

“There are no books about fire birds. Not here.” Hela was confused and intrigued, two terms that they had used a lot around each other before she was sent away.

**_And there were no books in any of the other realms either, but he would have to visit Muspelheim and the Smoke lady to know more about those legends._ **

“I was not looking for fire birds or whatever he is. I researched on how to extinguish an eternal flame. I cannot be wrong on this.”

“And I’d bet that is exactly the reason he liked you.” Hela stood up to get them more drinks and to avoid explaining that comment.

In Loki’s opinion, it had been the logical step to follow, not a reason to like someone. He had been surprised when he overheard Odin talking to one of his trusted warriors and mentioning that he had not been able to find a way to kill the Norns-cursed bird permanently. At the time, Odin had grounded Loki, so the child had decided that hiding his findings would be a great way to get back at him.

Then he committed the books to memory and hid them where nobody would find them without him. That decision was paying off now instead of then, because back then nobody would have listened to his suggestions anyway.

He had thought a lot about those books lately. The reason every Aesir child was afraid of Jotnar was that nobody knew who they were. Loki had tried to bury that fear in books too, but he had only found glorious battles, which was not very reassuring, because he did not have an army to bring the monsters to their knees. That was the reason why he had asked the Jotnar to complete Asgard’s library.   

**_He would have to visit Jotunheim to get a hold of those books. He could not stay in the dark about this._ **

He heard steps behind him and he thought that it was Hela with their drinks, but he could not mistake the big hand on his shoulder or the boisterous and commanding voice that followed. In that moment Hela sat down in front of him with a tormented look in her eyes, completing the obvious deduction that it was not her pinning him to his chair.

“Excuse me, we have not been presented, but Stark, the Midgarian Man of Iron that came with the humans, mentioned a red haired mage, a friend of his, who claimed to know the ways of Yggdrasil. He didn’t have time to give me a name, but I suspect you are the one he mentioned. I will soon have need of that skill…”

Loki refused to look at Thor in the eyes yet, but he looked at the people sharing a table with him just to see if they were hearing the same thing, or someone had managed to poison his mind and make him hear things. Mimir, hidden by the spell, was openly disbelieving; Hela, in plain sight, was eying Thor warily, but it still meant that Loki was not hearing nonsense.

**_Well, now he would have to include this in his plans, more complications, how delightful._ **

In the distance, the alarm started to sound loudly enough to drown the noise at the tavern. It was the one designated for a prisoner outbreak.

**_And he had to include_ ** **that _immediately too._**

 

****__


	11. Realmtrotters

Since his brother had asked Loki to travel the realms with him, everything had become the familiar rush of the mighty Thor stomping on his plans, but why not? Everything was out of his control anyway, lately. Loki just had to find an edge and he would always find a way to turn the situation in his favor.

After all, travelling with Thor would grant him the opportunity to visit other realms with some kind of immunity and protection; that meant preparing his departure inconspicuously and differentiating it from Odin’s leave, as he had already planned. Unexpectedly, Amora’s scheduled escape kept Thor busy for a few days, giving Loki time to tie up some minor loose ends.

Therefore, Odin made his announcements and left for places unknown. Loki stayed as the redhead, watching the Warriors Three try to find a trace of the Enchantress and the lot who had inadvertently let her out. The two original guards had been found gravely hurt, bleeding on the floor of the dungeons. It was obvious that they had gone down fighting. Loki had not been there to witness it, but he was sure that Amora was only responsible for the unconsciousness, not so much the wounds.

The rescue party found the group of men three days later in the stables of a nearby inn, equally worn out, but still fighting each other over a piece of wood that they all called “my lady.” They were taken to the healers’ house before they managed to kill their competitors. Amora remained hidden, but the whole thing gave Loki time to consider Mimir’s future, something that he had not even contemplated in the first place. Hela offered to take the disembodied head with her, and Mimir agreed to be anywhere that was neither Asgard nor Loki’s pocket dimension.

It had not been Loki’s idea, again, but Hela had her own plans. Mimir was as gullible as knowledgeable. If he didn’t see her dangerous side on his own, Loki was not going to correct him.

The Warriors Three and Thor came back in shameful defeat, Sif was not with them — Loki had good reasons to think that she was still on Amora’s track — however, it was no concern of his; Thor was. The golden prince came a second time to Walker, seeking an answer and promising as much gold as he could imagine.

Loki had no interest in gold; in fact, he had started to abhor it nearly as much as the dwarves. He had no interest in anything that the prince could offer. In fact, if his plans worked, he wouldn’t need anyone’s help or charity (as usual, really). If his plans worked he would have a power greater than the Allfather, greater than just knowledge; and he would have freedom and peace. What could Prince Thor offer that surpassed that?

Oh! Because that was a thing that he had to do now too; call him his Highness. Loki was used to calling him by his title, both in formal situations and when he was pretending to be someone else, but now the niceties burned on his tongue, because now it was true. Loki was no longer pretending, he was not Thor’s brother, not a prince.

That oaf was above him! and even if Loki had never cared about social status (he wouldn’t have followed the Seidr pursuit if he had), it felt like a small defeat every time he had to play to that tune. As if all those rumormongers were proven right: the second prince, the lesser prince …

Setting his own internal musings aside, Loki put on a well-practiced, reluctant grin for Thor, as if the trip were an inconvenience for Walker, and agreed to work in exchange of a favor owed. Favors were always an interesting trade coin, and Thor had always been too fast giving oaths for his own good, especially when Loki was not there to stop him, and even more especially when Loki was there to encourage him.

A favor could wait a very long time and become unexpectedly essential, so he stored the promise and agreed reluctantly to Thor’s plan (Loki’s plan, really, even if Thor didn’t know that), and prepared their departure.

That new plan — travelling with Thor — had several drawbacks, which were evident but ineludible. First, there was no room for much stealth. Second, he had to treat Thor as a vassal should treat a prince. Third, Prince Thor made most of their decisions, and that was a special kind of torture, in Loki’s opinion.

That’s why their travel started on the rust-red plateaus of Muspelheim, and Thor was also the reason they ended up in separate cells, probably waiting for their execution, just a few hours after the Bifrost landed them. Loki could not make him understand that the peace treaty didn’t mean that Surtur hated them any less. Fortunately, they escaped easily enough with a bit of trickery and a bit of strength where it was needed, no need to say who did what.

But if Loki thought that their escape was good, he was sorely mistaken. Thor was grateful, something that he had never been in any of their trips, and a grateful Thor meant lots of telling (half-inventing) stories and sharing (making up) their past: gratitude was far out of the ordinary for Thor, especially since Lady Foster was not around to shape him.

Loki hated it. He had spent all his life trying to tell Thor that he would get what he wanted if he treated his friends with more consideration, to no avail, and suddenly this short-lived one comes along and makes him change. The Norns mocked him, surely.

Reminding himself that he was not the prince’s brother was Loki’s only way of not being overwhelmed by rage. There was no fraternal bond to pull them together, there never had been that was the explanation; Loki had never been meant to play the role of Thor’s anything, not even his shadow.

Their idle chats had been exhausting for the former second prince. He had to create and store a lot of names and events that he would have to remember if he wanted to be coherent. At the same time, he had to listen to Thor’s butchered stories and see him stare at the ground every time he mentioned his lost brother. He had to pay attention to secrets that he already knew, but that sounded different from Thor’s point of view.

Loki could pick up Thor’s doubts in his retellings. Even there, the influence of the human woman was evident. Thor was reconsidering all of himself; he was still changing, becoming something new and less tied to Odin. Loki was familiar with rebuilding his perspective around something other than their (not) father, but reality had not been as gentle with him; he had been alone when his world came crashing down, and he had stayed alone since then.

Loki had been hard on everyone; he had only forgiven Frigga, and he had the nagging feeling that her death had been more redeeming than he wanted to admit. He had not forgiven himself yet for ignoring something so obvious: that he was not one of them; that he was diametrically opposite to everyone he knew. It should have been evident and he hadn’t stopped to consider then, not once, not even when Hela tried to tell him how dangerous Asgard was.

From that night on, Thor asked him to call him by his name, and Loki didn’t argue. Prince Thor had been getting stuck in his throat every time anyway.

But the change of name did nothing to ease the growing frustration in Loki. For the first time in their lives, Thor treated him not a weak burden, occasionally useful, never vital, but as a valuable companion. And the only reason for that development was because Thor didn’t know that it was him.

Of course Thor couldn’t stop treating him as the little brother, the jealous little brother, the adoring little brother, the brother whose complaints were mere tantrums. And the considerate behavior now only served to widen his wound.

They spent three days like that, on their own, visiting the portals that Loki remembered and making modifications to a transdimensional map. It was an experience that Loki was eager to never repeat again and he was very relieved when he convinced Thor that, in order to locate all the portals, they needed to meet the Lady of High Smoke, and civilization at last.

Conversation with the Lady of High Smoke was much more pleasant, even if her surroundings were not. Surtur’s castle was built from large bubbles of lava and the strangest formations left behind by the extreme temperatures; some would say that the height of the rooms and the detailed crafting of their stones could rival the palace of Asgard. The cities of Muspelheim were nothing like that.

The cities of Muspelheim were built half above the surface and half below. What passed for buildings there were erected near twisted-looking constructions that used the natural heat of the ground to boil water. Every town was covered in tubes that carried steam to the homes of citizens; it had the drawback of making it seem as if they lived in symbiosis with a huge metal-tentacled creature. Almost everything was steam-powered, and none of the metals used to build their homes were noble metals.

When the structures had been built, everything must have looked gold, silver, and bronze, but now, after centuries of use and careless neglect, the golden brass had become a wooden color, the silver tin had darkened and lost its shine, while copper had aged to lighter shades of brown and green that followed no discernible pattern, turning black, red or even blue depending on the amount of shade and humidity received.

With time, cities showed their true colors. The character of this particular city was camouflage in the wastelands among volcanoes; it was life flowering in the shade of machines, cogs, tubes and heat.

Loki could appreciate the beauty of the land, but he had never really liked Muspelheim; his cold nature might have had something to do with his preference, but he didn’t think that was all. As everybody knew, the definition of magic was redefining the static purpose of energy, a process that produced heat. More heat in such an environment implied many risks for magic users in Muspelheim, like a heatstroke. As a consequence, magic in the land of the fire giants was scarce, but highly efficient. It also meant that many of Loki’s spells were rendered useless.

That feeling of helplessness had always bothered Loki greatly during official visits, and seeing the inhabitants of the planet live so isolated from magic made him uncomfortable. Their culture, on the other hand, had been one of the easiest to learn: hot is good, cold is disgusting. The people who worked to keep certain parts of their machines cool were regarded the same way as sorcerers in Asgard.

Loki didn’t regret not learning more about them. Muspelheimers had apparently hated Aesir with all they had. They lived under the sloppy rule of Surtur and they had their own problems.

The Lady of High Smoke didn’t hold any official position; the brothers found her in a huge but remote city in the shadow of a dormant volcano.

They saw other species for the first time since they arrived. So far, Fire Giants had been the general rule; the only other creatures they had seen were pets. At least the two princes had seen them treated as pets; they had no way of knowing how sentient they were without engaging with people and risking being discovered. As a rule of thumb, they had tried to avoid cities, guard-posts and anything resembling a Surtur-controlled location.

Lady Smoke was essentially the only nest of coppery tubes and levers where the agile guards of Surtur didn’t have eyes and ears, but there were others, and the stranger’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed. When the spies informed the revel leader of their presence in her city, Lady Smoke metaphorically took them apart to find out their intentions. She had been informed of Thor’s mission, but it was Loki’s charming words that put them in her good graces.

Surprisingly, Thor’s mention of Stark being the one who introduced Walker to him also played in their favor. Then again, Loki had seen the human charming all the important diplomats at the meeting; and the leader of the rebellion had been seeking help. It shouldn’t have come as a shock that they met each other and had made deals of their own.

The princes spent several hours exchanging nonsensical small-talk with the Lady before she took them to a chamber underground. The metal walls and their attached platforms were built around what seemed to be a bottomless pit. At different intervals there were openings in the rock that glowed faintly: more portals.

Loki refused to show awe, but from in there it was obvious that Muspelheim could have taken over Asgard in no time if their ruler had been less of a self-centered tyrant bent on revenge. That rift was a privileged spot, almost as good as the Bifrost to lure enemies and take daring battles to a successful outcome.

Lady Smoke was aware of his interested gaze, and they didn’t exchange words regarding the perfect strategic point and its meaning, but their looks made that conversation unnecessary. ?

They crossed the first portal with Lady Smoke to check that it worked and they found themselves in the main square of some place with a lot of humans. There was a mirror cylinder at their backs, and, in front of them, stood a big tilted wall with some words of inspiration. They returned to Muspelheim before anyone noticed them; Lady Smoke gave them permission to roam the rift.

She even shared her peoples’ rudimentary maps of the portals when Loki showed her what he already had of the map. However, she was most helpful when Thor left to scout the other portals. First, she asked about Stark, and told him to send a message in her name if they saw him again, something about taking care of dragons (which was a silly request. Everybody knew that ancient dragons were hiding, dormant in their nook, somewhere in the deep end of the Yggdrasil, and the small dragons were not interesting for anyone. Unless the Lady was using a code word or tricking the human).

As they talked about her strategy for the revolution against Surtur and her backup tactics to save as many of her allies as she could, Loki steered the conversation to mention Odin, the peace treaty, and what they had talked about. Of course the Fire Birds were going to come up at some point; Loki made sure it would come up naturally and learnt everything she said — he’d have time to sort out truth from legend later .

Their conversations were genuinely nice, and increasingly personal, to the point where Lady Smoke admited to a melophile side of her. She explained how her realm had a very strong connection with wind instruments, the rich variety of pipe organs, specially the ones created from the town construction scraps. She even played one of the flutes of her collection; instruments as long and heavy as some ritual swords back in Asgard. She pushed Loki to try to play, both laughed when Loki only managed a few strident cries, and she gifted him one of the flutes. It came with the promise of being able to play any tune from any realm the next time they saw each other. 

The time for bonding came to a stop once Thor came back to point out the portals that were most interesting to him. By then the two Aesir had their maps, rudimentary as they were, and going through the portals was not strictly necessary, but Loki wanted to collect the defining energy signatures of every portal so he could use them later, and he wanted to have a feeling of the different places, connections and environment of each location. He would use that later, too. He had a... Well, a back-up plan, just in case.

They left after four exhausting days; Thor let Lady Smoke keep control of the portals instead of notifying the official powers that be; he had ended up liking her despite not having talked much to each other (definitely, he liked her much more than Surtur’s henchmen). He swore to secrecy as soon as Walker suggested it, and Loki wanted to strangle him. Thor had never followed any of Loki’s sincere suggestions, unless Loki laced them with subtle promises or tricks.

They used one of the portals there to go to their next destination: Jotunheim. Thor wanted to visit the most inhospitable realms before picking up Jane to go to the other ones.

In the new location, Thor and Loki walked mostly in silence; not because the excess of talk had been forgotten, but because the sharp wind robbed them of most of their will to talk. Thor endured the cold like the thick-skinned Aesir he was and Loki kept his skin blue in every inch that Thor couldn’t see. Even though cold and silence were harsh on them, those were not the aspects of the realm that were hurting them the most.

Jotunheim had gained quite a lot of connotations for both Aesir since their last trip. Thor was trying to remember the human way of thinking — or what he thought was the human way of thinking — and attempting to consider Jotnar as equals, but he was failing. He couldn’t help it; if Jotnar hadn’t started that war, if they had never wanted to leave their realm, if they hadn’t thwarted his coronation, if his brother hadn’t turned out to be one of them, if they were less savage and evil creatures by nature, if Loki had been more Aesir, everything would have been perfect.

Thor knew that half of the things in his head were wrong, but in the middle of the cold vastness, thoughts assaulted him relentlessly and the next thought never gave him time to second guess. Nobody had told him that starting to be ethical, as Darcy called it, would be this difficult.

Loki wasn’t faring that well either. Despite welcoming the monster in him for its usefulness, this was different. Loki was Loki; born in Jotunheim, raised in Asgard, with a Vanir mother, many creatures as magic tutors … Loki was not a Jotun. He knew nothing about the Jotnar. He was not used to thinking of them as more than beasts, even though he could respect some of them, like the diplomats.

The Jontar as a bulk were still the monsters in his head, and he was walking beside Thor, the heir to the throne of Asgard who had sworn to destroy them all, and not that long ago Loki had almost managed to eradicate the ice realm.

He didn’t feel exactly guilty; it was what he had had to do at that moment, but he did felt shame for being that desperate for Odin’s approval. And he was nervous because he had given them back the Casket of Ancient Winters; the Kodin Sielu in their language, as he had learnt in the recent diplomatic reunion. It had been a risky move, like most of his choices in hindsight, but it would pay off in the long run. He was sure. For the moment, though, it was only helping to put him in the verge of madness, once more.

Loki stayed sane by sheer stubbornness. He was used to an agitated state of mind, and he had been for a long time. He lied to himself until there was no problem and if that didn’t work, he silenced his thoughts burying them under a bigger pile of thoughts. This time, he mulled over the stories that the Muspelheimer had told him.

Discerning truth from legend, he got that Fire Birds in Muspelheim were called neither “fire”, because almost everything could be called some form of fire in that realm, nor “birds”, because they only took the shape of birds (or animals, or other species) when they wanted. They were called Life Shapes.

Most of the legends only mentioned one creature, not a whole species. It probably meant that the disappearance had been progressive, and that there weren’t many left, if there were others at all. Most of the stories featured the death of the creature in one way or another, not many mentioned the fire, but that was usual in Muspel tales, not something to take into account.

Then again, some tales were heavily influenced by the Dwarves, who were very interested in the consequences of a Life Shape’s death: gemstones. Sometimes they were depicted fighting, sometimes living together, but Loki didn’t see it as something conducive to retrieving his Fire Bird. Loki knew where the Bennu was; what he wanted was to know how the bird had hidden and how to get the original creature back.

There were mentions of magic too, far more interesting, but those mentions were so vague and unspecific that Loki could only deduce that the creatures were considered magic for their natural capabilities, not because they were good with any specific branch of the art.

Loki had already noticed the low strength of the thaums that connected the ashes to the bennu, so that strengthened his theory. It also meant that the secret to their rebirth probably lay that way. Creatures unbound to matter; only energy that rides/manipulates/bends the magic currents to interact with matter. Loki was tying the stories with what the woman had told him in Asgard when he was wearing Odin’s skin, he was trying to get as much as possible from barely a few strands.

Then again, in most of the stories, the creature was mute, silent, or not even fully sentient, like some majestic, but clueless animal. And that was utterly stupid, or the Life Shape that he had known was a deviation of the rule.

In any case, Loki couldn’t trust the legends and he would need a different kind of information now. He needed to find Stark when unprotected, mind relaxed, and see what was blocking the memories. Of course, he already knew that; those ideas were merely a distraction from the cold, harsh and mind-numbing landscape of Jotunheim.

But even though Loki had learnt to deal with madness privately, like an old friend, Thor had never been able to do that on this own. Where Loki could keep himself busy comparing the dynamics involved in the natural proclivity of portals in different realms, Thor wanted company; the creatures from the frozen sea and the small tribes of the mountains were not enough, and Walker had been distant since they appeared in the icelands. Thor wanted some kind of civilization: someone to argue with, someone from a real city, and so (against Walker’s advice) they strayed their path to visit the closest nest of those forsaken giants.

That decision was hateful for Loki, who didn’t want more contact with the Jotnar than what was strictly necessary (which is to say, enough to steal from them some maps and books). However, there was no room for debate when Thor used his commanding voice, the one that made people say ‘prince’ before ‘Thor’, and Loki had to comply. It was a facet that Loki was not used to seeing directed at him. For all that Thor was an oaf who didn’t consider Loki as an equal, he never used his mighty prince voice on him.

Loki tried to convince himself that it had been his own decision. After all, the portals of Jotunheim had proven difficult to navigate and nearly impossible to locate; they were unstable, mobile and only mildly predictable.The portal to Asgard’s vault had been closed after the thwarted coronation, and the other portals were only starting to react to the proximity of the Casket of Ancient Winters again.

To sum up, Loki could use some help in the form of stolen knowledge, so it was not just Thor’s whims they were following. However, it was a flimsy lie; it seemed fate had decided that his life would always depend on someone else’s decisions.

They went to the closest inhabited village that they could find. They walked along a very deep rift that was bordered by hundreds of small mounds of snow-covered rocks. A stupid prevention, since such a small wall was barely visible and hardly useful if someone walked there in the middle of a snowstorm.

Nevertheless, they followed the rift to the small cluster of lights that announced some kind of civilization. When they came close, they saw that the lights belonged to the main square of a small city, where Jotnar from some kind of vehicle were giving parcels to other Jotnar queuing. They didn’t know if it was day or night when they reached the limits of the village, since Jotunheim existed in an almost perpetual night, except for the warmest parts of the planet.

Whichever hour it was, people were busy around them, and it lifted Thor’s spirits greatly. Not so much Loki’s, who noticed the wary looks and the way people cowered or scurried to check if they were properly armed. Nothing new, all in all; both princes had seen the losers of an Aesir war trying to rebuild their lives from the depths of fear.

Thor was immediately attracted to the sound of a brawl a couple of streets ahead and he strode there, hoping to help some defenseless creature, Loki at his heels. However, the brawl was not as simple as he had expected. Loki had to contain a bark of laughter; of course the two contenders were Jotnar, so they had to stop and listen before using the mighty hammer.

One of the creatures looked older than the other. Loki recognized some military distinctions on the young one’s clothes; the older one seemed to have friends around who were supporting him, but not getting in the way. Those friends were the only ones who saw Thor and Loki, and the Frost Giants positioned themselves in a tight circle overtly to sheltering the fight from the princes.

Loki could see that Thor was already rooting for the young one, even if he was not sure enough to act on it.

“It is over, YOU are over,” the older one was saying in a brash tone.

“It is not over as long as we believe in him! And you and your band of rioters can go and melt! I know what is right! You have no honor!” Oh, Thor was rooting for the kid so much.

“There is no honor in this! And there is nothing you can do, you are alone!”

“I can still fight! Until my last breath! Until my last heartbeat! Until I ruin your miserable lives!” The kid smiled at the older man. “Tell me, if there is nothing I can do. Where is the rest of your league of warriors?”

“YOU! You brought those beasts to our village!” He seemed like he was going to attack the kid and Loki saw Thor tightening his grip on Mjolnir. Thor was ready to pounce, but he was waiting until the fight broke.

“Not beasts. We are the Army of Order, and we will not die, ever. The teachings of Laufey guide us, we can’t lose.” Loki saw Thor visibly deflate at the same time as the older Jotun tried to control his breathing.

“There are lives at stake, Akiak, the war is over. Your army took many; they took Sivudlerk, and Tarktor,” the older Jotun panted. “They used to teach you magic when you were a small boy. Do their lives mean nothing to you?”

The kid, Akiak, seemed to rage and chuckle at the same time.

“If they were anything to me, it stopped when they joined the enemies.”

“What enemies, you fool!? They have always loved you!” The older Jotun clenched his fists in unmistakable wrath.

“That is interesting, because I loved seeing their blood on the snow.”

The boy was laughing carelessly, and suddenly he wasn’t. Before anyone could react, the older Jotun had jumped at the younger one, who now lay on the snow with his head shattered for everyone to see. The group of friends hurried to stop the man who was now kicking the stomach of the younger one, even though the lifeless body couldn’t feel it.

The murderer raged and cried as his friends held him, but his shouts were drowned by a woman who came out of a nearby building (at least Loki thought she was a woman, he was never sure with other races). She cradled the lifeless body in her arms, crying his name as the other group was torn between pity and hatred.

“He was your nephew!” she shouted at the man the others were holding back.

“It is his fault! He brought them here! They are dead and it is his fault!” he shouted incoherently as his friends dragged him away.

Loki and Thor were shaken; two supposedly thick-skinned warriors, both rendered unable to articulate a word thanks to a bit of violence. They were used to the aftermath of war: the bodies, the smell, the fear … but this was different. People were walking by the crying mother and nobody spared but a pitying glance, and it felt wrong; wrong, wrong, wrong. Of course, if someone had stopped to help they would have risked being marked as the next target, it was an inevitable part of the fear, but it felt so different from the wars they had battled before.

Not much later, a different couple of Jotnar appeared: one of them looking apologetic, the other looking detached. The last one talked to the mother.

“Excuse me, we need to dispose of that.”

“‘That’ is my Akiak, my little boy, you heartless monsters. You won’t get him, too.”

“Sorry, we don’t make the rules. You know there can’t be corpses littering the streets.”

One of the workers restrained the woman while she kicked and cried and the other one extended a sheet, big enough to cover Volstagg twice, next to the body.

“What a fantastic welcome for two strangers,” the voice of a new Jotun said to their right.

He was standing calmly, observing the woman fighting with the corpse-removers too. The Jotun looked old, his head was bald, the marks on his skin were limp and had wrinkles on them, his red eyes had black spots — probably because of some ailment—  and the smile on his face was bitter when he turned back to them.

“You should come inside before you freeze.” He went through the giant-sized door of the building right behind them, leaving it open.

Thor followed, and someone had to make sure that the oaf didn’t get imprisoned, so Loki followed, too. Inside there was another Jotun, probably female too, and even older than the other one. She had thin lips and white hair braided in a complex pattern; she was wearing thick furs over her shoulders, even though as a Jotun she shouldn’t feel the cold. From under the furs, two strong hands were working on a block of ice.

The woman ignored the two travellers in favor of hugging the old man when he came close to her.

“I’m sorry, dear, I knew you liked the boy.” Then she finally looked at them with unkind eyes, completely different from the look that she had given to her, maybe, husband. “So you finally brought them in.”

The old man’s voice was soft. “They were like an open flame. Practically asking to be attacked.”

“Thank you, for your hospitality,” Thor rushed to say.

“Make no mistake, Asgardian,” the woman answered immediately. “By letting you be under my roof I’m protecting my village from things like what you saw, not you.” She pointed to a window with a brusque gesture of her head. “Peace is fragile, and we don’t want people like you stomping on it.”

Their presence was making the woman uncomfortable, and Loki would rather avoid making any more enemies in this trip. “We were only passing, we intend no harm. We are headed for the capital.” He tried to look as nonthreatening as possible. Walker could pull off that look, but one had to meet Thor to get over his bulky figure.“I guess you hate us,” said bulky figure started in a sad voice. “I never knew Asgard caused so much pain, even in our absence.” He had his shoulders slumped in shame.

“What are you on about?” the woman glared at Thor harshly.

“They fought because of Laufey, right?” Thor dared meeting her eyes “And he was killed in Asgard.”

“Are you really so self centered?” the woman sneered as she threw her hands in the air and went to look out the window, already tired of the Aesir.

“This has nothing to do with Asgard,” the old man explained with a resigned expression on his face. “Even if Asgardians were the ones to start this war. And the ones who didn’t help when we sent our messengers away to get aid.”

“Laufey started the war by provoking the Aesir,” the woman said without taking her eyes from the window.

“And what should he have done?” the bald man answered with another question in a low volume. “Let them treat us like beasts?”

“Like he did for the last thousand years? Yes!” She looked at the other Jotun in the eye. “There was peace!”

“And now there is peace, the Kodin Sielu is back, and the Council of the Mother is back.”

“At what price?” the woman muttered.

The brothers were very uncomfortable being present for yet another discussion in which they didn’t have a part. Loki was gathering a lot of information, some of which he would rather not know, like how Odin must have received the Jotnar messengers; he must have known about this civil war while Loki was in prison, he must have ignored the cries for help from Jotunheim while he sent Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three to ‘pacify’ other regions.

Thor was still trying to fit this piece of the puzzle in his world view. This war was nothing like the wars they were used to. This war had shattered a world, not united their citizens against a common enemy. This war had put friends, neighbors and families in different sides. This war would leave scars deeper than many other wars.

The conversation was interrupted when a noise of a door opening at the back of the house reached them. A third Jontar, came in; she was just as old-looking as the other two, her hair was the same hue of blue as her skin, and she wore a black leather vest that reached her knees. Maybe she was a bit younger than the other two, but it could be the effect of being was much shorter than them.

She sent the travellers a nasty look, then ignored them and went on to kiss the other woman once on the forehead and once on the chin. She repeated the same gesture with the old man and then hugged him warmly, muttering some words that didn’t reach them. The other woman joined the embrace briefly.

Loki had the distinct feeling that the leather-clad woman was not a daughter or a sister and he reconsidered his first impression when he remembered the rumors. In Asgard, some people said that ‘those ice beasts’ didn’t respect anything, not even their mates, and they would go around taking as many mates as they wanted. That was not what Loki could see in front of him, but he did see how an Aesir retelling would go.

“I’m going with Tnaraq now that the street is empty,” the newcomer said, breaking the comforting embrace. “I’m afraid she’ll jump if she goes alone, and now she is alone.”

“Take them with you,” the white-haired woman replied, not giving them a choice, “and guide them out of here before trouble finds its way back; they are headed to the hole.”

The blue-haired woman kept ignoring them, but she left the door open behind her, as the man had done a few minutes before. The old man waved them goodbye, the woman who stayed didn’t.

The scene outside hadn’t changed much, but the pair of corpse-removers had managed to take the body from the mother and put him on the sheet, which was the right size for a Frost Giant. The mother was crying over the body, until the old woman with them rushed to her side. The workers lifted the corpse and the two women, followed by the brothers, walked behind them, silently except for the sobbing mess of the mother.

They slowly approached the same rift they had followed, but from the other side of the village this time. They walked for a long time, passing the white useless mounds until they reached the last one; then the workers stopped and the mother wailed even louder.

The workers threw the body into the rift.

Loki had to put a hand on Thor’s chest to prevent him from reaching out; he didn’t pull his hand away until Thor seemed to realize that throwing that body was not dishonorable in this world.

The mother crumbled to her knees, and the other woman crouched and hugged her. The two workers left; the woman in charge turned to the brothers and pointed to a direction behind them, chin held high; they were absolutely not welcome. As they turned to trudge away, Loki saw the pair of women building a small pyramid out or rocks next to the rift, it would be soon under a layer of snow. Thor had not seen it, and Loki was not inclined to tell him, but his allegedly frozen heart sank a little when he looked further at the thousand other mounds.

Thor didn’t ask to go back to civilization in the next few days. Instead, he travelled with his eyes dropped low and a certain contained energy in his step that was not common in the boisterous prince of Asgard. Their traces in the snow were longer and, by his demeanor, one would think that the cold had managed to crawl under the bond warrior’s skin.

Loki didn’t want to reach a city anytime soon either, but the capital was the best available destination to steal the books he had commissioned from the throne. Loki tried to repeat his previous trick, forgetting the incident and focusing on what the humans that worked for him called an ‘algorithm’, and how it could be used to predict where portals would open. It didn’t work. He couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness.

Reaching the capital was a relief; it was less distressing than being alone with their morbid thoughts. It was also very quiet. At least it gave them a separate number of things to think about, starting with where they were.

They had expected to reach the ruins of the palace where Thor had almost started a war with the invaluable help of Loki. What they reached was a segmental ice dome that blended with the ice-covered earth on the edges. The dome was as high as the highest spike of the old city; it reached as far across the land as the scars from the Bifrost, a vast space. It was bigger than the Midgardian city of New York. On the top of the dome, there was a crystal-clear construction of twelve spikes intertwining, but never really touching.

There were some buildings made with ice around the construction, but even though the dome was big, the city was not; the whole complex of buildings was barely as big as the golden palace in Asgard. The visible constructs were just covering the fact that the real capital below them was destroyed. It was a diplomatic capital, made of luxurious rooms to impress the visitors, but nothing real, because nobody lived there. Loki had seen that before, in Realms where the rulers wanted to protect their people from outer influence as much as possible.

There probably was a smaller population center nearby where people actually lived and did their daily chores, but this was not it. This was a huge monument to a tragedy, and it was as explicit as it could be, since the clear ice of the ground let natives, guests, and intruders alike see the former capital and what had become of it. It was not like the memorial that the stupid architect wanted to build in Asgard, it was not in the middle of the city; it didn’t cover the tragedy in gold. The dome was a reminder, especially for visitors, that Jotunheim had been defeated and they had built new life over it.

They walked to the part of the dome with buildings, walking on enormous steps (far too big for anyone who wasn’t a Giant, which was the first passive-aggressive architecture Loki had ever seen), chiselled on the ice, their eyes never leaving the ground. Loki noticed slim columns here and there that seemed to connect the new city down through the ice to the old one with spiral staircases, but he had no idea why the builders would want to get close to the gaping hole the Bifrost had opened to the Ginnungagap.

Under the dome lay the wound inflicted to reality itself that would only heal with more time than their lifetimes lasted combined. The Jotnar had built around the edges of the wound, and then over the wound, and they had built staircases to reach the wound. Thor concluded that Jotnar were as mad as humans; Loki concluded that he would use those stairs at some point whether he was allowed or not.

Loki and Thor could feel eyes on them on their way up; unsurprisingly, when they arrived at the top of the dome they had a group of people waiting to welcome them. Among the cohort, Loki recognized the twelve giants who had visited Asgard, but they took Thor to sightsee the whole place and excluded Walker from the visit. Thor tried to say that he wouldn’t go anywhere without his companion, but the Jotnar were very insistent that only royalty could go with them.

Loki mildly encouraged their wishes, not out of obedience or to get in their good graces, but because he hoped that it would give him time to explore on his own. The Jotnar diplomats and nobility left him in an ice room, sitting in a bench made by Jotnar for Jotnar, so his legs were dangling off the huge piece of furniture. Not one minute had passed since the Jotnar had taken Thor, and there were already two creatures to keep ‘Thor’s companion’ entertained. Loki was not easily fooled; they were trying to ascertain what this visit was about, and the best way of verifying information about them would be if they were apart.

Whoever had planned this had to be quite intelligent; Loki could admire that, but for the moment he was going to save such thoughts in favor of a more healthy feeling of suspicion. The two creatures seemed amicable enough; one was a giant, but his skin had a dirty colour instead of the common blue; the other was some kind of white-haired biped with its head sunken between its shoulders.

The second creature introduced himself as Migou, and the frost-giant was Tupit. And despite Migou being a big muscular bulk, even bigger than the frost giant, they didn’t seem threatening. In fact, as soon as Tupit started to talk, Loki was sure that they were merely tools.

Apparently, the pallid Jotun thought that Loki was not with Thor, but the other way round; that Thor was his warrior or something equally ridiculous. Both of them knew of Thor’s quest to locate the portals and they thought that Thor was incapable of such a thing, and incapable in general, so when they saw that he had bought company, they deduced that the mixed-blooded companion must be the one doing all the hard work while the Aesir claimed the glory, as always.

Loki repressed the urge to defend Thor’s honor in his stead.

Tupit guided them to a side hall while Migou remained mostly silent on the back. The Jotnar was very experienced in the matter of portal-traveling, he was familiar with the dynamic of portals in other realms, and he had been investigating the convergence when the worlds crashed.

Loki was reminded of the old scientist who had linked him to Thor not ten minutes into the invasion of Midgard. Once under the influence of the scepter, he had been so eager to share everything he knew. Loki couldn’t see any harm in sharing information with this overenthusiastic giant; if he was like the humans, sharing would encourage him to hand in as much relevant information as possible.

Loki revealed his theory involving the humans’ functions applied to the apparently random portals across the frozen land. As expected, Tupit gushed at his ideas and provided some of his own.

They reached a door and Tupit exchanged a look with the white-haired creature, who nodded. Loki didn’t need the open door to see that they were about to go down through one of the spiral staircases to the bottom of the ruined capital. Loki was not sure of what he had done to deserve such honor, if it even was an honor. It could still be a trap, nevermind the friendly disposition of his companions.

Indeed, he felt quite trapped as they descended: Migou closed the small parade. There was no way of going back up without his consent. Also, the descending was terribly uncomfortable; he had to stretch his legs to keep up with steps made for normal-sized Frost Giants. Going up was going to be an agony.

Tupit, before him, was leaning on the carved central bar where Loki was leaning, too; the giant was murmuring what sounded like a poem. Loki used the chance to talk to Migou without questioning Tupit’s strange behavior (regulating his breath in order to avoid wheezing, of course).

He learned that the white-haired ape-like creatures were a different race that had lived with Jotnar since the dawn of times. They were the scouts, who were even more resilient than the Jotnar themselves, but more pacific; Jotnar had at least one scout in the coldest regions of each realm. Scouts relayed news, kept the ways open, used the portals … Loki was interested, despite himself. Some kind of spy guards; less powerful but more active than Heimdall.

As they went down, Loki started to see the consequences of a hit by the Bifrost. Everything was still there as he had seen from the surface, but the distance made it feel different. The buildings were the most prominent part, and the only thing clearly visible from the top of the stair.

Loki could see that the power of the Bifrost hadn’t razed the land with an explosion, as would be expected in many other destructive forces. Instead, the hit had exposed the capital to the raw Ginnungagap. The force had incorporated the city into the mass of the raw energy and the Ginnungagap had filled the void left behind by the city. The end result was similar to an obsidian construction, comparable to the rainbow bridge if the lights were snuffed (technically the rainbow bridge was itself made of the Ginnungagap; the lights were the physical manifestation of Yggdrasil). But the most apt description would be a mostly harmless window to the void.

The void-black buildings were disturbing, but the Jotnar caught looking at the skies or running for cover made the sight much more macabre. They were just the silhouette of something gone, lost, obliterated.

Tupit stepped on the black surface, and Loki followed, thinking himself safe. However, as soon as he touched the ground he felt a drain and he felt exposed in a familiar way. He rushed to the step again, but Migou was effectively blocking the way. He tried to reach for his magic, but it didn’t work as it should.

“Just as we thought,” Migou grumbled.

Loki took his daggers out, prepared to fight them or to fly to the closest stair.

“You set this trap!” he shouted, angered by his own trust in those seemingly harmless beasts.

“Certainly. It is an effective way of revealing glamours and disarming magic users such as you. One of the very few advantages of this havoc. The hole, it is not closed, as you can see, so the Ginnungagap disrupts any form of energy. It is difficult lightening this place; not even sound escapes the disruption.”

The Frost Giant kept prattling as if he had not uncovered a traitor in their midst, as if he had not just exposed Loki in the foulest way. Still cheerful.

Loki looked at Migou trying to find a reasonable response, but his features were mostly covered by hair. His stance was not threatening; but that on itself was not reassuring; after all, Loki had thought the same thing when they lured him into a trap, too.

“Why the knives?” Migou said in his deep voice. “Calm down. You have done nothing wrong.”

“You are not the first Child of the War and you won’t be the last one to come back,” Tupit exclaimed.

Loki mouthed some of the words in utter confusion. Migou came down from the stair, leaving room to escape freely, and Loki was lulled once again thanks to curiosity.

“The Children of the War. That’s how we call the ones we had to send away and hide in the other Realms so they had a chance to survive,” Migou explained. “In recent centuries, many have come back looking for some kind of heritage.”

“You were one of the lucky ones.” Tupit picked up the explanation “Fortunately, you were not in the temple that was raided by the Aesir, ” Tupit pointed to a dark street, walking toward it. “Back then, before the war, when we still had the Heart of Jotunheim, there was a portal in every temple, so when the troops moved, all the children were sent to a temple to leave. The Queen planned the evacuation; she watched over the mission, since her only son was with her at the moment. Laufey was in command of the distraction; the Aesir thought that we were protecting some kind of weapon in the buildings. Instead of attacking Laufey’s troops, they went for the best defended temple. This one.” Tupit gestured to the compact front of the construction; low, but full of rich embellishments crawling up the wall before them. He opened the door.

“The warriors set to defend the temple were overwhelmed. The queen left all the children inside to give them time to escape, but it wasn’t enough. Earlier that day the Casket had been stolen, and so the portal closed before the children could go through it. When the Aesir went in, they raged, because there were no treasures or weapons. It was a carnage. Not one child was left alive.”

Loki followed Tupit inside. The temple had a low ceiling, low for a Giant race that is, and there were others inside, who didn’t look up from what they were doing on the walls. Loki didn’t pay attention to them either, he was busy listening to Tupit.

“How did you know that I was one of those children?”

“Of course, you have not grown here. You don’t listen to the snow and cold like we do,” Tulpit said mysteriously.

“If he ever stopped being melodramatic he would explain that your body didn’t produce heat like that of the Asgardian Prince; the snowflakes floated differently, it could be seen from afar.” Migou jumped to ruin Tupit’s mysticism.

Migou’s comment and Tupit’s quiet whimper pulled Loki away from the ancient tragedy and back to the temple before him. The sorcerer observed the people working on the walls, light reflecting oddly in their faces thanks to the proximity to the Ginnungagap. Meanwhile, Tupit was explaining the history of Jotunheim; he mentioned the elder gods and that the old temples had become temples to knowledge when this or that ruler pronounced the words: “Jotnar don’t believe, we fear”.

Then Migou noticed Loki’s interest and he spoke, disregarding his friend’s speech. “These are the volunteers for the Asgardian commission. They come down here to salvage what was written on the walls of the temple. The amount of knowledge gone is devastating, of course, but they do what they can.”

“Why do they need to ‘salvage’ it?” Loki asked curiously. One or two of the voluntaries turned their heads hastily before going back to work.

“Well, the Ginnungagap only left a surface, so the doors that were closed at the moment of the Bifrost hit will remain closed. Rooms and rooms of answers just at the other side of the doors, unreachable, and lost forever. All because of the hit,” Tupit sighed.

“Are there no other copies?” Loki nearly shouted, scandalized.

“Sadly, no,” Migou continued. “When the casket was in full use, everyone could access its energy and whatever information they decided to store with it, so nobody bothered making copies. As you can see, in Jotunheim you can’t waste resources in copies. Paper, parchments … sometimes even stone is hard to come by. Everything was magic-based then, except some knowledge, as a luxury, written on the walls for everyone to admire.

“Then the Casket was gone, our magic disrupted and our history mutilated in favor of a lasting peace. We are lucky Laufey didn’t decide to wipe off the walls. After all, most of the information on them was either useless or forbidden,” Tupit said. “That is one of the reasons why the Twelve agreed to send copies to Asgard.”

Loki eyed the work of the voluntaries. This changed everything.

Chaos he might be, a harbinger of destruction when it was required of him, and a criminal. He could kill the King of Jotunheim in cold blood, but this was different. He had started to feel guilt when they explained that the destruction of the city had implied a big loss of knowledge and the feeling had only worsened when he realized that he had unknowingly followed the path that Odin started when he stole the Casket. The thought would have brought him joy before, but now he only felt ashamed.

The plan had been easy: finding the books (which, by the way, weren’t technically books as he knew them), stealing the books and enjoying it when Asgard found illusions instead of books.

He hadn’t thought of the consequences for the Jotnar. He had thought that they would have copies somewhere. Who didn’t have copies in this time and age? Even Asgard, backwards as they were, had a copy of the whole Royal Library in a satellite. This was not good for his long-term plans; Asgard would retaliate and use the slip to claim the Casket back. Jotunheim would sink in dark times again.

Therefore, Loki couldn’t steal the information.

And he couldn’t make copies, because the copies were stored in the temple, where his magic didn’t work.

But he didn’t want to simply say the truth either. They might be happy of spreading more copies wherever they could, but Loki didn’t know what kind of control they had over their precious information. He could be denied access to it and that would complicate things even more. Or they could become suspicious of him. So many things that could go wrong …

“How long until these efforts are finished?” Loki asked out of nowhere.

“A few months,” Tupit seemed oblivious to Loki’s suddenness, “but we will send the first batch in a few days.”

Loki hummed; he could work with that. Then he changed the topic of the conversation to his and Thor’s accommodations, because now they would need to spend a few days in the capital.

Loki spent the next days working with Tupit and other experts on a theory to predict the changes in the Jotunheim portals. Only two days were enough, since he was given access to most of the contents of the Jotnar knowledge on the topic. Everyone Loki met there was willing to trade knowledge in some way or another. Not exactly share, but trade, and the experts learnt like sponges from what Loki had to say about portals in other realms.

Thor, meanwhile, was being treated like a prince deserved, and when they had the chance to see each other Loki could see that Thor was being played. The giants had probably noticed that the future king of Asgard was wary of their whole planet, and they were easing him into their culture. Someone was making a real effort to befriend the prince and Loki could only let them. It would probably be good for his long-term plans if his future ever got that far.

After those days were over, Loki had this theory complete; he could locate the portals with barely a few variables and Thor was already nagging him to leave. Not because he was in a hurry, nor because he was uncomfortable; it was just that the next world was his beloved Midgard.

Just the previous night, Loki had fighted his way out of the tangle of furs of a bed too big for him; he had slipped through dark corridors, past Thor’s door and through the doors to the room where they stored the batch to Asgard.

Loki had been monitoring it closely, so it had not been hard to find. The sorcerer sat on the ground and checked for the last time that he was alone before closing the door. He would need perfect concentration for the next part; illusions were easy, duplicating matter was not.

It was draining, long, and complicated. Not as complicated as mind-spells, which were at least interesting, but it implied a lot of repetitive magic for a very long time. If someone interrupted he would need to start again, so he ignored all the noises around him.

It was morning by the time he was finished. He stood massaging his strained muscles, the floor had not been comfortable, and he stored the copy of the batch in his pocket dimension without even looking at his creation. On his way back to his room, tired and sleepy, Loki wondered if he had really been so careless to leave the door ajar.

With that, his business in Jotunheim was finished, so Thor’s request to leave was actually welcome this time. Loki just had to say goodbye to the Jotnar who had helped him create the magic algorithm for the portals. Migou’s parting words were “May knowledge travel far with you” and Loki decided to ignore their meaning. He had an oaf to take to the alien planet of love of his life.

“Why? We have nothing to hide.” Thor said when Loki implied that he didn’t want to be seen by Heimdall and that he wanted to use the portals.

Yes, he thought for himself tell that to the small smuggled library in his pocket dimension or to the blue skin that he had been wearing for the last few days.

Definitely, the less they saw of Heimdall, the better for everyone involved. Instead, he said “We can’t be expected to map the portals and not use them, certainly.”

“Aye.”

So they travelled to the city where Thor had landed when he was exiled. Then, upon seeing that his woman was not there, they jumped through the next portal to the city of the invasion, where Jane had said she would actually be. They went out right through the gate Loki had opened back during the invasion and Thor landed them safely on the same platform where the fallen prince had surveyed the city not that long ago.

Now he did the same once again, and he saw ruins; he saw the efforts to rebuild, thwarted. There was a big group of people surrounding the tower, there was the distinct flavour of chaos and unease. A noise alerted them to the presence of people around them; there was a team was pointing weapons at them. Not the Avengers, though.

As soon as they saw Thor, they trained their guns on Loki, and the God of Lies sullenly wondered if someone else was about to see through his disguise again. One woman came out of the crowd; Loki had seen her in Asgard, with the humans. Thor advanced to embrace her, but contented himself with a polite nod when he noticed the human’s serious stance.

Again Loki marveled; his brother reading body language? And Muspel wasn’t freezing over, they would have noticed.

However, Thor was still Thor, so he kept his good-natured demeanor by placing his hand on Loki’s nape protectively. Loki let the gesture pass because the weapons lowered and because his Walker persona wouldn’t shrug him off. That the gesture felt familiar and comforting had nothing to do with it.

“Lady Hill, this is my friend, Walker the warlock. He has been helping me to find the portals across the realms.”

“I assumed as much,” with a sharp gesture of Hill’s hand, the warriors retreated, “but you came through the Chitauri portal; we had to check. We don’t want any more unexpected surprises.”

She guided them inside as she briefed Thor on the Hydra uprising. She explained her new role as chief of security in Stark Industries; she listed the whole extent of the damages in different countries; she named places and people that Loki didn’t know … Loki was not very interested in the whole thing. Midgard was not a big piece in his war plans; their internal fallout would be but a dent in his plan. However, the agent had mentioned a big information leak, and that part could be much more interesting.

The human counterpart of Thor, Captain America, rushed into the room with a folder under his arm. “Oh! Hill, Thor! Welcome back! I was looking for Tony. I have the serial numbers of some pieces and I need to know if he would be able to track them.”

“Serial numbers. You mean from the metal arm?” Hill said.

The Captain didn’t have time to answer. A mild explosion shook the building and the woman shook her head glaring downwards.

“Good luck trying to get to him.”

“He is still in a rampage?”

“That he is. Unapproachable.”

The good Captain shared an exhausted sigh with Hill, slumping onto a nearby couch. “I have not been able to talk to him. He has not stopped. Not even when Bruce tried to lure him away with a project.” He threw the file on the coffee table. “If someone manages to control him, remember to give him a copy of this.”

After a few minutes of silence in which the Captain pinched the bridge of his nose, the man seemed to remember that he was not alone with his thoughts in the room. “Thor, Jane wanted to talk to you about solitary confinement, and we need to discuss a couple of things.” He looked at Walker briefly. “Avengers issues. I hope you understand.”

Loki nodded, he made himself comfortable as the three of them stood.

“And I have to pick agent May up for tonight’s meeting.” Hill marked before leaving in a haste.

“I’d tell JARVIS to give you a tour, but Tony has turned him off,” the leader of the Avengers gave him an apologetic look.

“What has happened to Stark?” Loki wondered about the explosion, the occupants of the tower must be used to such things, since they were not running to aid their shield-brother.

“It would be better if you left him alone.”

“But they are friends, Captain, I can vouch for him.”

“I could help,” Loki said, a reminiscence of the many times the Warriors Three had refused his help. Thor vouching for him was a nice change of wind, though.

“Believe me, some of us have been friends for far longer and it has not helpped. He will probably shot at anyone who tries to help him. He is better off alone until he can start acting like an adult,” the Captain paused and sighted deeply, as if regretting his words. “This has affected all of us; we deal with it in different ways,” he man eyed the file on the table and Loki was sure that if the human had magic, there would be a hole instead of a file.

“We’ll be back soon.” Thor said before leaving the room with the other avenger.

Loki, of course, jumped from the couch the moment they disappeared, leaving behind the files very intentionally. If he hadn’t needed Walker’s persona, that captain would pay for daring to suggest that Loki was useless. He would still pay, certainly, but direct confrontation was not Walker’s style. It wasn’t Loki’s style either; Loki extracted his vengeance by proving the offenders wrong.

It hadn’t always been the right choice, as the ruins of Jotunheim’s temple had recently proven, but it was a response ingrained in Loki almost as deep as the Allspeak. Therefore, he walked around aimlessly trying to find the source of the previous explosion.

Apparently, he was alone on the floor, so he muttered his displeasure with the Captain cursing to his heart’s content. Loki knew that it wasn’t fair, the Captain had looked worn out, but that didn’t stop Loki from trying to spite the Midgardian hero. He found a set of stairs leading down and he took them immediately.

It wasn’t just a matter of spiting the human. Loki needed to know if the human was up to the task of rebuilding the Infinity Gauntlet; he needed to know if he could reach the Bennu with magic now that the wards were probably gone; he needed to know if the human disguise was fine …

“ … and that pompous idiot has no right to keep me from trying,” Loki said out loud; he wouldn’t let just anyone else mess with his plans. He had had to adapt to Thor, to Hella, to Mimir and even to Stark, but the mighty Captain was definitely not in that list.

“I need to know that Stark is fine, and that dolt won’t get in my way,” Loki turned another corner fruitlessly.

The sound of a small bell startled him to silence. Some metal doors opened and Loki found the elevators at last. Did humans always hide them in the walls? None of the other realms did that.

No sooner did Loki come in than the doors closed and he started moving down. The panel with the numbers didn't work when Loki tried to press one of the buttons. The sorcerer was almost positive that the elevator, human or not, shouldn’t work like that; therefore, it had to be a trap. Stark prided himself in the perfect performance of his machines, this couldn’t be a simple mistake. Either way, Loki was not worried. Whoever was in charge of the contraption had to be human, Loki could subdue and escape any human in the realm.

When the doors opened he was ready to use his knives, but there was nobody in sight. Loki treaded out slowly and the doors closed behind him on their own, the light of the cabin going back upwards.

A new explosion made the floor shake, this time stronger than before and Loki made his way through the corridor in front of him, feeling now smaller aftershocks in quick succession. Nothing attacked him, so he advanced a short stretch with more confidence until the wall on his right became transparent.

Loki could see the destruction through the glass wall. He was familiar with the chaotic disarray of an active forge; the cage of the Fire Bird had been a good example, most days. This, however, was no controlled chaos; this was simple destruction. There were ropes, no, wires, cables, cut or pulled from the machines; there were panels, both straight and molded, piled in a different corner. One could see pieces of plastic, pieces of metal, pieces of more pieces; everything dismantled.

The crystal door opened with a hydraulic hiss and Loki entered the mechanical graveyard. From the inside, Loki could hear smaller explosions that were muffled by the walls. There seemed to be a couple of mechanical contraptions still working and rolling about the space freely, cataloguing the wreckage, the only engines that had escaped dissembling.

He sidestepped debris to get to the end of the room, where the inventor was shooting at his suits with perfect efficiency, starting with the joints, until the suit was just one more pile of scraps and the gauntlets in his hands whirred with overuse. Loki observed and took mental notes for future reference before going forward to stop him.

He had seen this kind of outburst a thousand times; bringing his brother back from such state was a boring task that he had had to perform often. He had honed it down to an art form through the years. Usually, it was just a matter of putting something that he couldn’t destroy in front of him and tiring him down until he was capable of reasoning again. Normally that implied sparring with him.

He stepped in front of the bird-turned-human, taking a position to fight and sending a small blast of fire to catch his attention. He was surprised when Stark simply kept shooting and carefully avoiding Loki. The inventor eluded hitting him when he stood in his way, simply changing the target and refusing to rise to the bait of the small blasts time after time. Finally Loki had to concede that he had miscalculated the man’s stubbornness; Stark didn’t seem to see him.

Looking around once again, Loki reevaluated the debris; the ruin was too meticulous to be a simple tantrum. If his sources didn’t lie, this was Stark’s laboratory, his study, his pride and joy; this couldn’t be mindless destruction, Loki realized, this was self-destruction.

Nothing that he had done with Thor would be of use here; Thor didn’t do self-hate for long. Loki was reminded of some time ago, when Fenrir, the wolf-shifter cub he had raised amongst Aesir, discovered the legends and prophecies that his strong character and his mistakes learning magic had prompted.

The wolf had gone feral. He had destroyed everything he had ever created and everything that had been given to him by all those hypocrites who feared him and invented tales when they were out of his earshot. Loki had tried to calm him down talking; Tyr had made an attempt too, but the wolf had bitten his hand when Tyr tried to subdue him by force.

After that, Loki had managed to pacify Fenrir with unorthodox methods that were widely censured. The cub had left the golden realm forever, though, not accepting any bribery or promise from Loki. In hindsight, it had been a good decision; in that moment Loki had not understood that the cub wanted to leave.

How things had changed.

But back to the problem at hand, there was nothing wrong with trying the same thing now. He took a step back, still with a fighting stance, and he aimed to whatever the inventor was aiming to destroy, shooting it to oblivion before Stark could. The man quickly sought a new target that Loki promptly destroyed too.

The fourth time, Stark broke out of his focus.

Self-destructing was not the same without the “self” half of the word. Wild eyes, very similar to Fenrir’s back then, turned to Loki and held his stare as the sorcerer shot another blast at the opposite wall for good measure. Stark’s eyes lost the wilderness bit by bit, superseded by confusion.

“Red?” he said looking around, probably to check that he was still on Midgard. “What are you doing here?”

“You invited me, remember? I should be the one asking that question.” Loki lowered his arm now that spells were not necessary “If I’m not mistaken, you offered to show me one of those things you are reducing to dust.”

Stark looked around once more, this time he took in the state of his working space and he winced.

“That will prove a little difficult right now.”

Loki pushed scraps from a bench and sat himself on it, grateful for having furniture not giant-sized, finally.

“Would you mind telling me what happened?”

Stark found a big pile of cables and used it as an impromptu couch.

“Redecoration day! Well, maybe redecoration week, I don’t remember.”

So Stark was being cagey. It was not surprising, and Loki could see that he wouldn’t get any conversation going if he followed that lead.

“Why did you say ‘if’ you came back to Midgard? The night we were going back to Asgard.”

Stark looked at him unblinkingly until a memory seemed to ignite behind his lively brown eyes.

“Oh! Oh shit! I forgot about the voices! I was so busy with the new projects, and then Hydra happened, and the leak, and the stocks. You wouldn’t believe how much worse the press can be compared to supervillains. And then I saw the files of the thwarted attack, and it was … I came here, and I …”

“I’m still waiting for an answer, Stark.” Loki reminded him with the last remains of his patience.

“Why I thought I might stay forever and ever in wonderland, you mean? Because Fury, he is … was … like our boss, except not my boss, because no boss can even try to control me. Pepper is the one who comes closest, but still not my boss.” Stark noted Loki’s unamused glare. “Yes, well, he had just sent me unexpectedly to a trap, or at least I thought it was a trap set by Odin. I still think, like everybody else, that Odin was not in his right mind. But now I’m here! So it doesn’t matter anymore. But! BUT! Now you are here too!”

Stark skipped, anger apparently forgotten or hidden, to some undamaged drawers built into the wall and he came back with some manner of artifacts gathered in his arms. He dropped the things in the working table, then cleared the other half of the bench where Loki was sitting without minding where the scraps fell before dropping himself next to Loki.

“I’ve been working on magic theories basing them in field crossing when I wasn’t busy with Bruce and Jane. Go over some of it with me and tell me how right I am. I think I’ve managed to create some magic particles, but this is like a battery made of quarters by a three-year-old child. I want more.” Stark lit up a screen and expanded it.

For some reason, Loki considered it touching, almost endearing, that the man had nearly destroyed his belongings, but he had saved a small magic generator. He wondered what was going on in the inventor’s head in the moment when he decided that he was going to spare that one.

They exchanged theories, projects, and ideas at first; but in the end one of the projects led Stark to think on that Hydra attack and he spilled that they had used his technology, one more blow to his trust. The man tried to pass it off as just another betrayal to his long list, saying that it didn’t even make it to the top ten.

Loki didn’t let the opportunity skid past him and they talked about other betrayals in their lives. Loki only had to change some names; after all, the human wouldn’t recognize any of them. Later on, their conversation turned back to the realms and what Walker had seen beyond, the topic of betrayals was left behind naturally and Loki felt like leaving a burden with it.

All his conversations about that particular topic had ended in a shouting match, feeling like swallowing broken glass. Stark, however, had been cautious, more than one could expect going by his loud demeanor. He had not taken sides, but had contributed with similar instances. It hadn’t been a competition about who had had it worse.

Unexpectedly, they reached an awkward silence, which was strange. There had been silences with Stark before, not many, but never awkward. Loki chalked it to the unusual feeling of calm that came with every interaction with the inventor.

Calm and Stark could seem like a contradiction in terms, but of course one needed calm to deal with the raw nerve that was the mad inventor. Loki found peace in his company; all plans dissolved for a short while and he could be the person he'd like to be. Walker with Stark was more genuine than most of his masks.

That had to be where the awkwardness came from: Loki was feeling exposed because of that calm, the lack of pretense. There seemed to be something else, though. It wasn't because conversation was easy and entertaining, nor because Stark’s emotional investment in magic was far deeper than his childish behaviour let on.

It was nice, finding someone driven by the need to understand, someone who understood his frustration, someone who could almost keep up with his own speeches about magic and still surprise him with new ideas; but that wasn’t it, either.

At that point, Loki caught himself too deep in thought, not listening to what Stark had said to avoid the silence, and looking intently at his lips.

Oh.

Oh, but what an untimely realization.

And untoward too. He was the Bennu, the target, the creature that had seen him grow up, the one that he needed to use if he wanted to win his war against Thanos. He was the creature that had his memories locked up because of something tragic, and without his memories, who was Stark? Just a disguise, just an empty shell. Oh, but Loki wanted the lips of that empty shell in a completely different context.

Fortunately for his plans (not so much for himself) he had gotten some recent sharp lessons in his plans going awry thanks to some interference. He was not going to let that happen again, and that brought him back to the reason why he was interested in Stark in the first place. Ignoring whatever the human was saying, he produced the gauntlet and the gemstone from his pocket dimension. (Since when had they been sitting so close?) He presented it as a personal project that was too much for him.

Loki was sure that if he talked enough about the artifact, he would forget about the sole coil of want that had managed to sneak up on him. However, Stark’s enraptured eyes followed his explanation and he swiftly scanned the gauntlet, stood, and made an illusion of the ancient artifact with all of its parts separated in the proper places.

Stark danced about the room pointing at pieces, asking about the individual spells and their composition, and soaking in the answers that Loki provided. Dancing amidst the chaos; a whirlwind of creation and destruction. It was beautiful, it was a good representation of Stark.

Loki couldn’t help but dance about with him, providing answers and whatever would keep the soundless music going.

The coil of want wasn’t going to be forgotten anytime soon.

Without a pause in his explanations, Loki resigned himself to hiding it. He didn’t want to imagine what the Bennu would say when he got back his memories, if Loki slipped like that. He would need the Bennu’s help when he came back; letting something happen, risking angering the Bennu could mean the loss of the only chance to avoid the annihilation of the Nine Realms.

Loki and Stark moved among the fractal holograms of the infinity gauntlet without noticing that the unsettling silence, after days of explosions and general dismantling noises, had attracted several inhabitants of the tower to the lab levels at different times. Their assorted tappings and knockings went ignored through the thick glass, and the door refused to open, but Stark was not destroying anything now and he was not dying either, so they were almost content to let him be with whoever that had distracted him enough.

‘Almost content’, because one of the witnesses was Natasha. She had wanted to say goodbye before leaving to create a new identity for herself, as she had promised Steve in the cemetery. She had been informed of the space-war and she didn’t think she had a part in it, but the scene in the workshop made her reconsider. The stranger reminded her of something and she was not sure of what it was; something in the rhythm of his gestures.

She was not going to leave her partners in both crime and hero business alone with a stranger that she didn’t trust for unknown reasons. It would be a blow to her pride even bigger than Hydra had been. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [It's been three long months; long for you, and long for me.](http://jaybarou.tumblr.com/post/102604646365/guys-galls-im-finishing-chapter-11-of-the-god)
> 
> Give Sam a 12% of the credit for this chapter. An argument could be made for fifteen.


	12. So Close, So Far

If Tony ever reviewed the security cameras, he would liken the scene to some blockbuster about the Holy Grail; a handsome actor and his sidekick around a mystical object of power floating and shining in the middle of the dark room. In fact, Walker and himself were badly lit because Tony had wanted to be able to see every small detail of the Infinity Gauntlet in the projections. The real Gauntlet was resting on a table outside of the circle of scrap that they had made by kicking this and that out of their way.

The projection of the Gauntlet, floating in the middle with multiple numbers and lines and surrounded by notes and calculations, was the main source of blueish light, along with Walker’s magic and Tony’s night lamp. Tony had also brought up the notes he had taken on his visit to Asgard and he was listening to Walker’s gentle comments over his shoulder about the notes and the Gauntlet. The guy had a knack for knowing what Tony’s question was going to be before he asked.

Tony didn’t even miss his music; he was deeply engrossed in trifling with the different kinds of magic and their deep connection to the clockwork-like engine of the Gauntlet. It was fascinating; especially after that awakening-music-thing that he had listened to with Walker in Asgard. Since then he had been able to perceive magic … (strings? too concrete; energies? too esoteric; vibes? too 80’s) things; magic-things would do for now. But on Earth he hadn’t had the chance to try it, so he was soaking up the whole experience now.

Even engrossed as he was, Tony’s brain wasn’t used to concentrating on just one thing; that was why he had music or Jarvis. Magic was taking up a lot of his mind, but not all of it; therefore, he still had time to deride the lack of a common name for the people of the Nine Realms with Walker, among a thousand other  topics.

Tony had not reached the limit of the sorcerer’s patience yet, even though he had gone through all the possibilities; from Niners, warmongers, long-ass-livers, Odinslaves, Odin and his merry band or Galactic Warriors; to all the possible space-related names: space fairytales, space lore, space folks, space invaders, space beasts … Everything until the word ‘space’ had lost all meaning, even for Tony.

At the moment, Tony had jumped to reciting all the variations of Yggdrasil that he could think of (including, but not limited to: Yggdrasilers, Yggdrasils, Yggdrasilians, Yggdrasilis, Yggdraseses, Yggdrashes, Yggdrasians and Tony’s favourite; The Yggies.)

The inventor was not sure how much the redhead would endure, and how far he would have to run when Walker snapped. So far he had only stopped him once, and it had been only because Tony was concentrating on the shape of a particular piece instead of on the conversation.

"Stark, cease your chatter. They are People of the Nine Realms, and no more."

"Too many syllables. Hey, how about _Drasilers_ "

"Few would thank you for reducing them to the connections between their worlds, which is all Yggdrasil is to them for now. Those very few who go beyond the limits of their realms and walk the paths of the Astral Tree, those who know the connections, who live them, are known as Ferdamadur, and keep their honorific close. Do wizards on your realm allow the magically inept to steal their title?"

"I know I can never get Pepper to call me Dr. Stark because she says honorary doctorates don't count. I've got a few of those, but you have to go give a speech to get them, or I'd have more."

He almost didn’t notice the little bot bumping against his side. Tony fell back to the real world, far from astral trees and new names for the alien neighbourhood, and back to this ‘Realm’ where SHIELD, and Hydra, had used his technology against him, against his friends and against the world. This realm sucked. Tony patted Dum-E and took the lens that for some reason the small bot had decided that Tony needed; it was not his fault that humans were a deceiving bunch of bastards.

Tony had not dealt very well with the news of Hydra. He hadn’t found the bottom of a bottle, but he had found himself loathing his own technology more than ever. No matter his good intentions, no matter how much he trusted SHIELD, all his work seemed doomed to be a weapon of destruction. There was blood in all his creations; even the reactor, source of clean energy and a _good thing_ , had had a lethal start. Obadiah had met his end thanks to it, after all.

So he had decided to give up. He had a reputation for starting again after a big crash, but it was enough. He had wanted to destroy everything; who cared about leaving a legacy when it was going to be twisted until there wasn’t anything left of his original intention?

Dum-E’s second bump made him realize that there were things worth preserving. Maybe not many, but even in his defeatist state, he had preserved _some_ of his creations for a reason. Sure, there was a way to weaponize his recent magic studies and the portal papers, even Dum-E could become a war droid, but those were … Oh! There was _another_ AI that he had shut off in fear of him being used too, and he owed him something big for it.

“Jarvis!” Tony jumped over mechanical ruins to get to the main computer of the workshop. “Give me a sec, Jay. Sorry, sorry. I was so angry I didn’t even …” Tony wrote frantically on his keyboard.

“Jarvis?” Oh, yeah, Walker. He didn’t know Jarvis.

“Jarvis is an Artificial Intelligence. He runs the tower, when I’m not being an overprotective jackass, and he could run the world if he wanted, probably.” Dum-E whirred his way next to Tony and the sorcerer, to look at the same thing as them. Tony turned to a different screen and entered his biometrics to access one of the most secure servers he had ever created. “ Do you have things like that in your home planet? He is a program that learns and, well, you’ll meet him soon enough.”

“You have mastered animation? Magic has been unable to reach such lengths, or has forgotten those spells.”

“Animation?” Tony snickered without taking his eyes from the screen.

“The process of bringing an anima into existence?” Walker answered doubtful.

“Right, add Disney to that list of films I need to show you. We can’t have you ignoring what kind of magic ‘animation’ is in this realm.”

Tony could hear Walker cursing the Allspeak, apparently not for the first time. His attention, however, was pulled by the memory usage that Jarvis was displaying; it was too high for a contained AI. Tony traced the programs running and found the face recognition and the gesture recognition at full capacity.

He turned all the systems on before asking him directly.

“Jarvis, hon, don’t make me sleep in the sofa, please?” were the first words he directed to the reactivated program.

“I don’t know, Sir, you will have to see if the door to your bedroom opens tonight,” the AI’s voice flooded the workshop.

“Ha! Perfect. Don’t let me turn you off ever again. Why did you let me do such a stupid thing?”

“It seems like not letting you do stupid things is a battle I’ll keep losing.”

Tony was amused by his own creation and he wondered if it was too much megalomania, even for him, but the running programs distracted him. “Jarv, why is the face and gesture recognition such a priority? Is Natasha playing poker or something?”

“No, sir. She appears to be doing a revision of her old enemies.”

“Why the programs then?”

The silence was a beat too long and Tony worried that he had damaged something while deactivating the containment. Tony saw that Walker had caught up to his worry, and it was infectious, apparently, because now the sorcerer was eyeing the screen warily too.

“Well, Sir, there are new faces to recognize in the building,” Jarvis answered at last.

“Oh! How rude of me! Jarvis, this is Skywalker. I’ve mentioned him, from the trip to Asgard. Walker, this is Jarvis.”

“I’m glad of finally putting a face to your name.” The AI said curtly. Tony thought that it sounded too unnatural, but it was probably just a consequence of the time spent offline.

“Likewise.” Sooo, the sorcerer seemed much more gloomy than a few minutes before, for some reason.

“Sir, you have had visits while you were locked up. And I would like to remind you that humans need to eat and sleep before they collapse.”

“Thanks, Jarv, noted.”

“But, the door only opens when your machine orders it?” Walker looked back at the reinforced glass door and the hydraulic system.

“Yes, it … Oh! How did you come in? I was in complete lockdown and Jarvis was bound.”

“I …” Walker looked at the screen like he was considering a lie. “I teleported.” Tony frowned minutely at the doubt in his voice. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to trespass, but I didn’t know how to open the door.”

That was … reasonable. He had blocked the door after being interrupted by the other Avengers one too many times. An alien wouldn’t know the difference between his door locked and not knowing how to open a Midgardian latch.

Nevertheless, and despite the space intrusion, Tony felt much better than usual. Only Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey could stay in the workshop and not make him uncomfortable, yet Red was there, and Tony was very much not uncomfortable.

After an interesting silence, Jarvis persuaded Tony and his alien friend to go up to dinner when he mentioned that Natasha was cooking some Russian dish that Tony couldn’t be bothered to pronounce. The whole team welcomed him back to the world of the living and updated him very quickly while they finished setting the table for nine.

They sat down with the new additions to the dinner arrangement: Jane, of course; someone called Sam, friend of Mr. Poster Boy; and someone that Clint had brought along. She shared her alias with Clint, strange as it sounded. Both Sam and Hawkeye the Second had been at the tower for some days, but Tony had been too far into his own head to even notice, as the Team Leader reminded him.

They told him that there was going to be a world-superheroes-and-miscellaneous meeting in his tower too and he hadn’t been informed of it. The meeting had been planned while Tony was otherwise busy; they had expected him to snap out of it much sooner. The new director of SHIELD wanted to send someone to the meeting, but nobody trusted that opportunist, whoever he was. Instead, Maria Hill was meeting someone called Melinda to tell the new director to go to hell or something more or less diplomatic.

The new additions were quite interesting; Tony approved of them, except for Sam’s unfairly over-protective refusal to let Tony near his wings, but the spotlight was very soon on the two aliens. Tony didn’t mind it; he needed time to inhale the food that he had been neglecting the last few days, so he was just as glad of listening to Walker and Thor’s songs of fire and ice. The retelling of their trip was quite amusing, but the way they told it was even more entertaining; Thor knew when to stop and let his partner do the talking and Walker used those cues naturally. It looked like a rehearsed storytelling.

Tony was not actively listening to a single word. Somewhere, his subconscious was probably keeping track.

And normally Tony wouldn’t notice how well those two worked together, but maybe he was watching Walker a bit too closely and maybe he was a bit too sleep deprived. He joined the Avengers plus company for a movie after dinner, grabbing an energy drink to stay awake through the night.

Clint wanted to watch Avatar and Tony argued that they needed to watch Star Wars. In the end they watched The Lord of the Rings, not paying much attention to it or to the sitting arrangements. Steve had complained because they were talking over the film, and not even with related comments. He had been ignored.

The mildly interested audience had been discussing Muspelheim while the Fellowship crossed Moria, and it occurred to Tony that he didn’t know what had become of the two would-be-assassins of Odin.

“Hey Gandalf!” he called Walker.

“Why would you call me that?” the sorcerer said, with a confused frown and thinning lips.

Right. Gandalf. Gandalf the guy who had just died in the film. Gandalf who had fallen to a void. And Tony had just compared him to the guy who had once implied that he knew That Other Void intimately; to one of the few guys in the world who didn’t know that Gandalf came back like a badass. Mouth, meet foot. Oh! old friends, I see.

Never one to back away, Tony kept talking and decided that the next film of the trilogy was a must, an immediate must.

“Well, you are the one with magic in this fellowship. Look, we even have a Legolas too!” He went with distraction, pointing at Clint.

“Would that make you a hobbit?” Clint was a bad friend.

“Nay, he would make a much better Dwarf.” Thor was an even worse friend who played innocent (badly), pretending that it was an alien thing.

“Forget I said anything, Walker.” Tony crossed his arms, not really bothered, but he didn’t want to stray too far. “I’ve decided that you are not Gandalf anymore. I still have a question.”

“You have been hoarding the conversation again, Tony, and we have questions too, regarding the machine that we tried to build before you came back,” Natasha intervened.

“Yes! The Bifrost 2.0, Darcy’s name, not mine. We are having problems with the dispersion ratio.” Jane jumped in the wagon of science fast as lightning.

Tony paid attention, mostly silent. After all, he had two experts discussing a very new field of astrophysics in front of him. Or at least that is what he had until Thor interrupted, asking after Darcy and her love life; then he had gossip about why Darcy had wanted to finish her studies instead of staying with her intern in London. Walker seemed to switch easily and he inquired about the characters in the gossiping, giving it as much importance as to Jane’s Bifrost 2.0.

Just in time for the credits and ice-cream, Pepper came to inform everyone of the resolution of the UN. Tony was not completely sure of himself around her, so he stayed polite while introductions were performed. The resolution was a  major human rights coup; apparently there had been a summit to change the definition of  human rights to something more inclusive at mutants’ insistence.

There had been conflicts when someone said that adding just mutants was not enough, but now it was happily called the Roafoil (Rights of Any Form of Intelligent Life) emendation of the UN. If the heated discussions about the meaning of life, how to measure intelligence, and why there was not a non-discriminating method to measure intelligence would be called happily.

As a consequence, now there were forty two pages detailing who was included in the Roafoil. The Avengers hadn’t been called to handle those conflicts by the skin of someone’s teeth. A chorus of relief met this information and she turned to less dangerous topics before Stark Industries issues required her presence. All in all, Pepper’s appearance was a civil, even warm, visit.

Tony made another attempt at talking to Walker when Pepper left, but it was overthrown when Natasha asked Thor about their plans on Earth and Walker joined the explanations because they had not planned everything yet. Later, as a new attempt was made, Jarvis had to chime in and propose that they use the holo displays to copy and organize the maps of portals that Walker had been updating. Walker immediately perked up at the possibility of straining his magic a little less; he wanted to know more.

Then Jarvis suggested that Walker could work in peace in a different room on the guest floor if he wanted. Walker left and Tony missed his chance. Everybody went to their rooms soon after that. Tony went to sleep with the feeling that the world was plotting against him. The crash from the energy drink came with the accumulated tiredness and Tony was soon dead for the world.

Next morning found Tony with a mild headache, still tired, but filled with restlessness.

He passed the common room where Natasha had one controller and Clint had the other. They were playing a game in cooperative mode. Tony was sure that they could play perfectly together, but they were occupied shooting at each other’s feet, pointing lasers in their playmate’s way and throwing them into the toxic waste. They seemed to be keeping a count of killings that was already in the hundreds.  

“Tony, are you sure that Jarvis can’t go all Hal on us? Because I don’t remember these levels being so difficult the last time I played.”

“I never said that he couldn’t go Hal on us,” Tony shouted as he left for the kitchen.

“Asshole.”

“I could prepare a batch of tests for you in the gym, Agent Barton. You do seem to be gaining weight,” Tony’s AI added to the conversation.

“Hey! Bash Tasha, she’s the one winning!” Clint complained as his robot was smashed again.

“Certainly. There is cake for you, Agent Romanova, hidden somewhere in the common areas.”

“Lies,” was the only thing Nat replied.

Tony wandered back into the room with a bowl of cereal and plopped on the couch. It was too early, he brooded, eyeing a clock at the corner of the screen (which read 11:33 am) and yet, it was late. Last night Bruce had managed to extract a promise out of him, and now he had to visit his laboratory to keep an eye on some of their projects.

He finished his breakfast and let the assassins play while he left with a grumble. The teletransporter and the apples were fine and good, but Tony wanted to go back to magic theory and the Gauntlet specs in his workshop.

Surprisingly, the destructive urge was gone. Steve had been reluctant last night when he handed Tony the serial numbers to look for his old mate in case Tony was going to lock himself up again. Investigating the Winter Soldier had unearthed a little nugget of information that the good Captain thought would affect him.

Namely: _Maybe that car accident of your parents wasn’t as much of an accident as we thought._ However, Steve was wrong to worry; Tony had kept the possibility of an assassination in mind since the day of the accident. Howard Stark had had many enemies; almost as many as his son had now.

And even if the urge was gone, Tony wasn’t up to creating anything new yet. Looking at his SHIELD-related projects made his blood boil in his veins, but at least he didn’t want to take his toys and move to Timbuktu any more.

Anyway, now he had to try to track the serial numbers too. He was going to have a busy, magic-less day.

He went through the morning managing to stay out of his bad mood. He knew that he wasn’t as focused as usually, but he was the only one who considered it a downside. Jane and Bruce mentioned that he was paying attention to his group partners for once, instead of forcing them to follow his rhythm or listen to his music; and apparently that was something good.

He had magic on the backburner, not literally, but maybe that could be a thing, how did magic behave in regards to temperatures? Anyway, his mind wasn’t 100% there.

The teletransporter was coming along nicely, except for the two elements that the machine used and that didn’t even have a name on Earth yet. The apples were a good project too, quite easy; chemistry bordering on alchemy, but doable. Their discussions on ethics and how to use the apples in the human population was what was driving them crazy.

Tony had left the Winter Soldier serial numbers to Jarvis. It was too close to Hydra and SHIELD for comfort. Tony couldn’t even _think_ of building a new suit, and that was in his workshop, which was supposed to be his safe haven. Jarvis would probably assemble a new one based on the last schematics for security reasons; he had done it before, but Tony refused to dirty his hands on a weapon for days if possible, a few hours at least.

God, his hands itched for that Gauntlet.

He had a small window of time while everyone ate, so he picked up a salad (something that, despite popular belief, he did very often out of convenience when there were no leftovers) and convinced his AI that he wasn’t going to furiously lash out against his projects again and that he could be allowed inside the workshop again. “You worry too much, Jarvis, seriously, and if you lock me out of my own workshop, I’m going to donate you to a city college, I mean it, those kids will strip your code down and stick you with infinite do-while loops, you’ll be singing ‘A Bicycle Built for Two’ until a monkey can pick the purple Fruit Loop out of a bowl.”

The experience without Mr. Magic-fingers next to him to guide his steps was more frustrating than he remembered. The magic lines that he felt were like a work of art; that was to say, they must have had a symbolic meaning and technique value for someone out there, but not for Tony. His own explorations had been fruitful in a different sense, though.

He had found layers of magic, and he had learnt to feel the difference. Some parts felt float-y, less … firm? (Hell, he hated that he didn’t have words to describe what he was learning.) The floaty ones were very different from the ones that were directly within the metal.

He had extracted as much information as he could from the non-magical parts, but without them, the engine had some vital components missing. It was … like clogs running idle.

Tony put everything into mental cubbyholes and added digital notes to his Unified Theory of Magic. It was convoluted, slow, and painfully new. He couldn’t read on the subject or check on parallel investigations. It was thrilling and frustrating in equal parts. Tony loved it.

He wouldn’t admit it outside, in front of anyone else, but he rather liked magic. It was like when he learnt electronics when he was ten, but without the added pressure of someone expecting something out of him. Also, he might have uttered the phrase “I hate magic” one too many times (more like one hundred too many times, if someone were to ask one of the other Avengers).

Walker strode into the workshop about half an hour later. Tony was ready to bounce over with a zillion questions bubbling in his head when his AI prevented Tony’s particular version of twenty (thousand) questions.

“Sir.” In that frustrating moment, Tony thought it strange that he had not been able to speak to the sorcerer in the last eighteen hours, but the idea flew out of his mind when Jarvis continued. “I’ve conducted the search of the serial numbers. The report is in your inbox and I’ve sent a copy to Captain Rogers too.”

“Sum it up,” Tony said with a bad feeling. “Is there any match?”

“Yes, Sir, several matches, in fact. The most recent one, a few months ago, is from some police reports of Wakanda.”

Tony bolted from the workshop throwing an apologetic “hi, Walker, sorry, back late, Jarvis, entertain him while I’m gone, will you?” over his shoulder. Everyone in the tower knew that Steve was as loyal as it got. Not loyal to an organization, or to a person, not even to a country (despite the frequent taunts, the color scheme and the name), not loyal to the Avengers, and not loyal to his friends. Steve was deeply loyal to his values, and he had gotten into that big head of his that his former friend needed help because it was the right thing to do.

Not that anyone disagreed, but Steve was the kind of guy who would jump at the opportunity of saving one person at unimaginable cost. Steve was going to leave them before the preparations of war begun, he was going to go after the Winter Soldier and he was going to risk limb and life when he could _ask for help._

So Tony was going to go with Steve and drop everything, because Steve was a reckless idiot. It was not because the super soldier had left food outside of the workshop frequently when the inventor had realized that he had been giving Hydra ammo for years; and it was not because Steve had tried to talk sense into him day after day before Tony blocked them out. It was just a practical fact that they needed Captain America in battle. At least out loud, those were his reasons.

Tony spent the rest of the evening keeping Steve in the tower, making calls to Wakanda and helping the man navigate the mess of data about stolen pieces and bureaucracy. Natasha appeared nearly at the same time and she helped with guesswork; she checked all the other matches that were not Wakanda and tried to find a pattern. Somewhere along the line, and trying to cheer Steve up, they had named the mission “Winter Will Come”. It had gained them a worried smile.

Their work was for nothing, but visiting the country now wouldn’t help either; it was a cold trace. The pieces could have come from the black market and not from a direct hit; and it had been before SHIELD’s fall. Many things had changed since then; the Winter Soldier could be anywhere.

Even though the assassin couldn't be found that way, not everything was lost. Natasha had roped the leader of the country, someone called King T'Challa, into attending the infamous superhero meeting that would be held at the Tower in a few days. Steve was not an emotional wreck; working to get Bucky Barnes back with Tony and Natasha had burnt some of the anxiety away.

Having people to order around always seemed to calm Steve. Natasha said it was because the time in The Howling Commandos was still very fresh for him; being responsible for other people made him more level-headed.

Tony didn’t know why or why it never worked with him, he was just glad that his friend was not going to jump to a different country, painting a target on his own ass.

That night, Tony was so tired that he didn’t even remember the sorcerer he had left alone in his workshop. Loki, though, had other plans that didn't involve lingering in the working space until the human deigned to come back.

Loki had spent his time in Midgard falling slowly into madness. Thor had become less than useful, since his stay on Midgard was an implicit invitation to any heroing in any city and to Jane’s room. Then, Loki had had the problem with the portals.

When Odin had forbidden any access to Midgard, he had barricaded the paths that lead there. In his youth, Loki had decided to prove his proficiency in the matter of the Yggdrasil paths by reopening a few of the ancient ways. But now, studying the structure of the paths and the barricades made Loki concoct a few theories that didn't paint Odin in a good light (again), and it affected humans and his long-term plans.

For now, the deprivation that the portals had suffered meant that there was energy pooled around them, energy that blocked the path and that needed to be carefully soothed before attempting to open the portals: rogue magic.

Some magic demanded a certain time, some demanded a word, a name, a gesture, a colour, and some made ridiculous demands, like seven left boots owned by blue-eyed women.

Loki's magic was enough to ignore most of them. But some were persistent and fastidious. Also, Midgard had a mind-numbing number of portals. He had used the algorithm that he learnt on Jotunheim to count them. The number of portals was close to the number of humans currently living on Earth.

It was only logical. Midgard was, after all, the Aesir-given name for the lands in the middle. Midgard was a main crossroads in the universe.

Loki had the feeling that Odin hadn’t sought humanity's protection or even control of the other races when he threw the Jotnar from the planet. There had to be more to it, and Loki didn't have time to figure it out, or to open all the portals.

He was opening as many as he could, and he was calculating that Midgard would be the best place to unleash his personal brand of chaos during the upcoming war. Some of the portals led to useful oubliettes; others led out of the Nine (some of the farthest-reaching he had ever seen). Other portals were already open, because they lead to Jotunheim or Muspelheim and Loki had just opened them from the other side during his recent travels with Thor. The ones Loki had broken into and used in his youth were still open too. Midgard’s portal network was nonetheless complicated. Loki calculated that he would need a couple more visits before he covered as much as he wanted.

He was done with portals for the night, though. Stark was already in bed by the time he came back, so he couldn't push his Gauntlet agenda either. Instead, he materialized the golden egg and made his way to the base of the tower.

Loki had wanted to do this since the start, or maybe the correct phrase was that he had wanted to do this at the start. The ashes were only a way to find the Fire Bird, and taking them to the bird’s nest was just a way of ingratiating himself to the Bennu, because a small part of the creature would always feel grateful.

Now, however, he was not as sure as back then. Loki took the elevator down underground, to the machine that gave energy to the building. The egg with the ashes was a heavy burden in his hand.

Loki ignored the appalling security devices and walked to the ring of blue light, making his steps resonate against the concrete floor. He put the egg down, opening the lid so the ashes could go out on their own.

However, the ashes were either sleeping or ignoring him. "Shoo," he whispered. "You are home, as I promised." Their crackling was as soft as a holden breath, so he poked them with blue hands to elicit a response.

The response, though, was not what Loki had been expecting. The hot grey surface stuck to his finger like mud. Loki tried to shake it off, but more of the ashes clung to his hand, covering it like a glove and making him use his Jotun shape to avoid having his hand cooked alive.

The cold did nothing to force the cinders away. In fact, the harder he fought against them, the more solid they felt against his skin and the closer they stuck. Trying to use his other hand was, of course, a bad idea and in hindsight he couldn't think of a single good reason for why he did it.

The ashes stuck to his fingers and engulfed his other hand in no time. It would have been a good moment to panic, but the ashes remained still, wrapped around his hands, and they gave off a guarded shine. It was not a real problem unless they became aggressive, so Loki stopped struggling.

“What is the reason for your behaviour?” Loki asked the ashes in his best ' _everything is fine_ ' tone, and the ashes responded in kind, adopting a more fluid density and half-pooling, half-clinging to his palms. Their answer could be summarized as 'you told us he is not our Bennu yet, so this is not his nest.'

Loki tried to make them understand that this would be the Bennu's nest as soon as he awoke. The embers countered that Loki couldn't know that.

Loki sat there with his hands covered in pigheaded ashes. All of his plans were in tatters: he had the spell to counter the paradox that the destruction of Thanos would create, but the Gauntlet to do so was in Stark's workshop.

He had the Bennu and the Gauntlet in the same room, but he didn't know how to unlock the Bennu's memories.

He had Stark working on the Gauntlet, but the human didn't know enough about magic yet.

He had Stark’s trust and probably the Bennu’s, but he was tempted to throw it to the wind for a silly infatuation.

He had Amora somewhere, unwillingly distracting Thanos, but he didn't have news of her.

He had part of the map of the realms, an advantage if Thanos reached them before they were prepared, but it was not complete.

To add salt to the wound, Odin would awake soon, that is, if he wasn't already awake. Jotunheim was not prepared for war, having just recovered from their own particular nightmare. Muspelheim was too worried about their internal conflicts to really care about a bigger enemy. Svartálfar was still a barren land. Asgard, ruled by Odin, wouldn't mobilize as many warriors as if Thor had been on the throne, and Midgard was having internal conflicts too.

If there ended up being a war, armies wouldn't be up to the task. All would be in the hands of smaller, less war-inclined groups: the water tribes, the Dwarves, Hela's helpers, the Avengers, those Guardians of the Galaxy.

Loki let a defeated sigh go. Facing Thanos and his punishment would have been less exhausting. It was still a possibility.

It was not the first time that he felt like that. His tricks and cons always reached that point where everything seemed hopeless, where the effort surpassed by far the results. It didn't get easier with time. Every time Loki reached that point, there were a hundred small moments in which he wanted to give up.

People thought that being the god of lies and mischief was something achieved by luck, or by a particular way of being. They were wrong. Loki had earned that title by pushing farther in every fateful moment of doubt, by unfailingly going on when all seemed lost.

This was not different. A bit more complicated than usual, certainly, and with his life and the Nine Realms at stake, but Loki was not gambling, he was fighting to the end of hs wits and then more.

Loki looked at the ashes in his cupped hands. So they wanted to stay until the Bennu was back, fine. It was easier to go with the flow than against it.

Loki combed his fingers through the ashes, which had returned to a sand-like texture. This was a minor problem, nothing to worry about, but it was one more on the long list of obstacles in his way.

"What are you doing down here, Red?" Loki had not noticed the doors opening. Quite a slip on his part. Fortunately, it was just Stark, voice quite tired. Loki noted a dangerous tone of anger and distress, but it was minimal, so there wouldn’t be …

The ashes reshaped themselves to the small bird that they had used the last time Stark was present and they flew from his hands to hover in front of the inventor.

“Hey! I know you!” the human said, grinning and offering his finger for the bird to perch on. Before the ashes could stop flying he took the finger and hid it behind his back. “No giving me weird death memories, okay, birdie?” Then he put the finger under the ashes without getting burned.

“So, what are you doing here, then?” he repeated.

“I could ask the same thing.”

“I’d say ‘I asked first’, but It is too early to play these games and I have not had any coffee yet. You don’t want to see me uncaffeinated, specially after breaking into one of the secure rooms in the tower.”

Loki knew that he was in trouble. He had seen Stark throw the Elf diplomat from his room for trespassing. Stark seemed quite calm, but Loki knew better than to trust looks. “You really need to tell me which rooms are supposed to be out of my reach if you want me to stay out of them, I can’t be sure with teleportation.”

Stark sighed. “I did tell Pepper to let me design the security down here, but according to her, everything I build is a _magnet for trouble_ and _becomes a trophy for villains._ Maybe this will teach her.” He shook his head and repeated, “last time. What are you doing here?”

“I needed this place. I didn’t want to free the ashes in public,” Loki went for the simplest thing he could think of. “Now, what are _you_ doing here...?” Loki looked for the first time at his disheveled state instead of his facial cues. He was clearly still in his nightclothes, curiously wet, and with bare feet. Loki was going to need to breathe deeply and hold his mind tight so it wouldn’t run with that image somewhere else. “And soaked?”

“Looking for you, actually. I woke up with a little magic issue and I thought that I could consult my particular living grimoire. Jarvis told me where to find you.”

“What issue?” Loki said, wondering how Jarvis had known where to find him.

“I was too close to following Steve’s icy beauty tricks,” Tony said, gesticulating blithely but keeping his eyes a bit too steadily observant for Loki’s taste.

“Ice?” Then Loki looked behind the man, and there was a trail of melting footsteps behind him. It wasn’t hard to connect the icing problem with his Jotun hands on the embers and that with Stark's wet state. Amusing perhaps, but still a horrid timing.

“My bed right now is competing for the biggest glacier of America. Normally I’m all into temperature play, but this is a bit too much for me." He looked at his own hands and the ashen bird on it. "But it has stopped again."

"Again?" Loki said feigning innocence. "I'm afraid I'll need more than 'ice again'."

"And I'm afraid I'll need coffee for that."

Loki picked up the empty shell of the egg and Stark led the way to the elevator, avoiding pools of cold water, and with the ashes bobbing on his finger.

Tony thought that the idea of asking Walker for help had looked better when a little panicked and freshly awakened. Now that he had the sorcerer and his fire-pet-thing in his kitchen, it looked terrible. He didn’t exactly trust the guy and he wasn’t desperate enough to ask for help. But the legend of Tony Stark, irresponsible extraordinaire, was built on him following through with insane-looking ideas.

“So, now that I have some coffee in me,” Tony said, “let’s start.”

As the expert, Walker had probably expected to be given free reign of the conversation, but Tony didn’t like that idea, so he turned the tables and took the role of inquisitor. Except, he was avoiding any of the real questions.

“Does it have a name?” Tony pointed at the flame creature that was resting in the egg on the counter.

“No. It is complicated.”

The egg was reminiscent of a Fabergé, if Fabergé had decided to forego the jewels, and had been more practical and less of a luxury. The little ash beast, for its part, didn’t seem to have an only shape; Tony had thought it was some kind of hummingbird made of fire, like a mini-phoenix, but he had been proven wrong when it had crawled up his arm in a fluid shape, burning his t-shirt as the elevator took them to the penthouse. It burned in different colors too; the whole spectrum. It could even produce a black flame, how cool was that?

Also, it seemed to be sentient and it understood some things; Tony wondered how far that understanding extended and if he should say ‘it’, ‘he’ or something else. In that moment, the various embers that gave the impression of eyes, in something like a head, were looking at Tony attentively. Tony could almost read something in those eyes, could almost hear an answer to his question, could almost imagine the reason why the ashes didn’t want a different name since the bigger part of them had died and run off to the land of the Dwarves, could, could …

“Holy shit!” Tony dropped his second coffee.

It was the voice! One of the two voices in his mind! The one that Tony identified with himself! It was so similar to his own train of thought that he had almost ignored it. Then he looked at Walker with raised brows, because if the small creature was his voice in his head, Walker...

"Jarvis, activate protocol Worm Parasite Fiasco. Level 3."

“What is it, Stark? Are we under siege?”

The alert went silently to Tony's accomplices. The group of loners was trying to get better at asking for help; the whole concept of the Avengers was there for that sole reason. Only Jane, Bruce, Natasha and Clint would get the message, though, since there was still a chance to keep it a secret. They would be in the room in a few minutes, Tony only needed to stall the potential threat.

"You must be the Cupric Prince."

Walker looked mildly startled and like he would rather run and hide. Tony got his pair of bracelets from behind the counter, but he was not sure if any suit would come when called.

“You shouldn’t know that name.”

“Boo hoo, but I do.” Tony saw Natasha slipping in, gliding from shadow to shadow. Clint had to be somewhere close, then. Tony could guess where, because Clint liked to perch where he could read the lips of his targets. Walker seemed impossibly aware of their presence too. “Why are you doing this?” Tony continued.

This time the sorcerer was surprised in a genuine way; or at least, in Tony’s opinion, he was. However, his surprise could be due to Jane’s appearance pointing a taser at him. Walker eyed her in a way that could mean weariness, boredom or simple enjoyment, but he directed his words at Tony.

“I’m doing nothing harmful to you that I’m aware of. Nothing that would warrant this kind of behaviour.” He showed his palms to Jane, slowly. “What, exactly, have I done?”

Bruce came in when the elevator’s door opened, striding resolutely but calmly next to Tony. Walker froze, either waiting for the following accusation or knowing that Bruce and the Hulk were one and the same.

“You have done plenty. Starting by invading my head, hiding your identity and lying to us. You must have known who I was when I went to Asgard and you never mentioned. What were your plans? Become my friend before selling us? to whom? To Odin? To Thanos?” Tony prided himself in the controlled and relaxed tone of his voice, one he had learnt to use in many business meetings where people thought that he was gullible because he was young. Then he realized exactly where he had found Walker that morning. “What were you really doing in the room of the arc reactor? Spying? Were you planning to steal it? To burn it with your pet?”

“You are reading this situation wrong, the ashes needed to be as deep as possible.”

“Then be quick with your explanations, because I’m getting nervous.” Not true; Tony was already well beyond nervous.

“I never intended to reach into your mind in the first place. I was trying to find someone else.”

“Go on.” Tony was not buying it; as things were, he would not buy it either if the guy said that helium was lighter than nitrogen. Nevertheless, Tony was going to make him talk; someone else would be calm enough to actually reason.

“I didn’t know of the connection, or rather, I didn’t know that it would be linked to you.” Walker shrugged and splayed his hands emphatically, but still slowly, for everyone to see. “This was never a plan. I had just discovered the existence of the ashes, when I decided that Asgard couldn’t be trusted with them. You saw the memory; it was Odin who put death in their way; he couldn’t keep the final remains like a trophy, too.”

By the looks of it, Natasha had decided that Walker was not a big physical threat, since she came out of the shadows to ask her own questions. Then again, having him close could be a decision taken because he was dangerous; Tony didn’t know what to think.

“You have those ashes for a reason.” Good, Natasha seemed in control of the situation.

“I … do.” Walker was thrown off, if not because of her sudden appearance, because of her unexpected question.

“I’ve heard Tony’s rambling. Those ashes were part of something bigger.” Tony wished Natasha would stop sharing secrets that were not hers, even though he trusted her to know what she was doing.

“Yes, they are.” Walker shifted uncomfortably, but Nat didn’t relent.

“Those are the ashes of something or someone bigger and formerly alive, then.”

Walker nodded. “ _Someone_ , if you think of all the creatures in equal consideration, as you seem to do.”

“Someone,” she confirmed. “Someone you valued; someone who died because of Odin, and who you are trying to find with the ashes.”

Walker nodded slowly again getting paler by the second. Despite Walker's discomfort, or maybe because of it, the rest of the group grew more relaxed and reached some balance where everybody was tense, but not about to attack.

Except for Tony himself, who was scrutinizing the sorcerer’s face for any sign of deception.

“What were the ashes before being … ashes?” Bruce questioned.

“A creature of fire, usually bird-like.”

“A friend?” Natasha dug deeper, adapting to the new player.

“That would be an apt description, yes.”

“Why did you … mind-speak with Tony, then?” Jane added to the round of questions, tactfully ignoring the loss that Natasha had brought up.

“I am not entirely sure. There is something … ” Walker looked at Tony in the eye and Tony didn’t like it. “Stark, you saw that I was as surprised as you were when the the ashes didn’t burn you. There is some kind of affinity between the creature and you.”

“Wait.” Tony remembered other instances where a fire creature was discussed. “That is the same fire-creature that you mentioned. The one that lived after dying.”

“What, like a phoenix or something?” Clint said, coming from a spot behind them; showing himself, but bow still tense.

“I don’t know what a phoenix is,” Walker defended himself.

“Tony, Tony, Tony!” said Jane in a hush.

“What?” Tony didn’t bother to hush.

“It could mean answers for your scans!”

Tony waited for a blink while he remembered the scans from before the Hydra raising that apparently said that he wasn’t as human as everyone thought. “I know the press is very liberal with metaphors, Jane, dear, but in case you missed it, I'm not actually a phoenix.”

“I know you are not, but what if you are a descendant? A hybrid? Maybe you only inherited the mind connection.”

“Jane, you are aware that you have just suggested that my mother cheated on my father with a mythical beast,” Tony tried to keep the conversation a bit rational.

“I … I did, didn’t I?” Jane frowned.

Clint joined with a cheeky smile. “Or the three of them had a frisky night of _burning_ passion?”

“Clint!” At that point, Jane was the only one who had the mindset to reprimand Clint for the sordid images he had painted in their minds.

Loki watched them discuss; the fate of his plans might not be completely lost yet, but it was a close thing. Loki wanted to drown the ashes in primordial water if he could find any, one of the few ways of killing an eternal flame. Why had they slipped up right when they had?! They were supposed to stay silent; he had lifted the muting spell on that condition.

The green berserker, Bruce Banner, dislodged from the discussion to ask to his redhead personna further questions. “What about the ice? If he is somehow related to a fire being, why is ice involved?”

Loki reached for the egg very slowly, not wanting to startle anyone into attacking. Loki himself was not threatened, but his cover was very frail right now. He blew cold magic onto the ashes instead of using his hands, because he’d be damned before they discovered his Jotun heritage too. He was going to hoard as many secrets as they left untouched.

Tony’s face frosted over, and the inventor cleaned it energetically with his bare hands.

“I’m afraid I had to use cold to prevent burns,” Loki said, inflecting worry for himself and for Tony.

Jane spoke up again. “That explains why Thor didn’t know. It is direct contact like he said, but not contact with Tony.” Surprisingly for Loki, that was more information than he had expected Thor to have in anything related to magic.

"What if something in your nature makes you compatible with that phoenix-like being? Maybe a pyrosome gene?" Jane asked looking at the biologist in the room.

"We already established that I’m not a mutant," Tony countered before Bruce could answer.

"Mutant studies are at very early stages. There could be a variation in the sequence that we have not considered."

"Why are you all so convinced that I'm not human?” Tony lost whatever control he had. “It is much more reasonable to think that the guy we know _nothing_ about is trying to con us.” He went around the counter, falling back to his distrustful ways. If his friends didn’t believe him, who was there to trust? Nobody, as usual. “He has magic, remember? He can be using it right now, to make you believe him."

It was a lame excuse and Tony knew it, but their suggestions couldn't be true. Tony was a human from the first hair on his head to the toes of his feet, and he wouldn’t have anyone saying any different.

When he was about to storm away from the room and let them deal with the liar while he proved his humanity, Natasha intervened.

“Walker, stay with Thor in his floor. Don’t come here or anywhere out of that floor again without an escort.” She looked at Tony’s turned back, still talking to the other redhead in the room. “Meet me later for a spar.”

Walker looked like he wasn’t used to comply with orders, but he lowered his head and left. Tony went to the workshop right after Steve came in. The soldier sensed that something was off. Watching Tony storm past him into the elevator, Steve asked, "Secret meetings in the kitchen again? Armed this time? Anything I can help with, or are you going to leave me out too?”

“Clint, you bring Cap up to speed; full disclosure. Somewhere else,” said Nat. Jane and Bruce didn’t need to be told to find something else to do.

Natasha followed Tony to the workshop.

He had not locked himself in yet, fortunately. He was not even working; he was sitting on a workbench and looking at nothing. Natasha approached, making clear her intention to stay and he scooted to let her sit. He was aware of her presence, at least.

“You knew this was coming,” she started. Tony kept staring at the infinite, or at his partly cleared workshop; it was difficult to tell how concrete his thoughts were. “You were not over your crisis when you were interrupted. This was a possibility.” Tony still ignored her, so Natasha exchanged empathy for accusation to get something out of him. “Do try to tell me that you didn’t overreact.”

“I didn’t call the suit. Didn’t activate the bracelets." Natasha smirked internally. Tony was easy if you knew how to play him. It was not a full success, because his answer had just been a reflexive defense, but it was more than silence.

“You called for _help_. That’s not very common in you; I call that overreacting,” she argued.

“I couldn’t just call the suit!” Tony reacted a bit more consciously, soon he would be cracking jokes out of self-defence. “I would have ruined the living room! You know how boring redecorating is?” Natasha made a gesture of agreement with her head. Tony winced. "I didn't give him any chance to explain himself, either."

"If it makes you feel better, you were right to think that he lies." Tony shrugged with one shoulder. Natasha read it as an _I don’t care, everybody lies_.

“You are wrong, you know?” Natasha waited for the explanation that was sure to follow. “I’m not back to the same mood. I’m not destroying everything. See, mum? I’m a big boy.” Tony smiled and batted his eyelashes innocently.

“Blocked then?” She picked up on the possible meaning of his inactivity and ignored the distraction.

Tony kept a reluctant silence, then, “Yes. There is nothing worth pursuing.”

Natasha never talked much, except with Tony. Tony was never sure if she was playing one of her personalities, or if she was really letting her mask drop with him. He would never know the difference, and he had accepted that it helped whether it was true or an act. However, some days Tony just knew that he was the little sister that Natasha never had.

“I’m not surprised,” Nat said.

“Of course you aren’t,” Tony huffed. He was going to say more, but someone came through the doors and made them look up. Steve walked up to Tony, made him stand up and hugged him.

“What! What are you doing? Steve! off! you’ll wrinkle my pajamas!”

“The other option is punching you in the face for leaving me out, asshole, and you don’t want to be chewing gum yet. The only reason I’m not shouting until you go deaf is because Clint has explained why you had to, and you actually had someone to back you up.”

“Let me go! Stop being an overemotional puppy, you’ll give me cavities,” Tony protested until Steve let him out of the embrace.

“Just roll up your flaps, will you? I have been told that there was something wrong with your mind a minute ago, only to know that I’m late and the situation is mostly under control.”

Natasha coughed and Steve knew that he had interrupted something. Nothing too private, but something very Natasha. Steve had had a chat with Tony once after Pepper left, when he thought that the long evenings the inventor and the spy spent talking meant that Tony was using Nat as a rebound. Since those long-gone awkward days, the mistake had lead to a quiet understanding. It meant that Tony and Nat’s chats had priority over anything short of a red code, even if it looked like they were painting their nails.

“I don’t want to lose another soldier,” Steve teased before leaving, knowing that Tony hated being referred as a soldier, but also that Tony wouldn’t really be mad at him.

“I’m not a soldier!” Tony retorted with a smile, as Steve expected.

He pushed Tony back, hard enough that the shorter man ended up sitting on the workbench again. “We’ll have words about this.” Steve waved in his way to the door. “For the record, they were right, Odin would have eaten my shield, had I suspected  …”

“Just leave, oh fearless leader.” Tony waved back dismissively.

Natasha and Tony were alone again after that, working on hiding dopey smiles. She picked up the conversation from a different angle. “Why does it bother you so, the idea that you may not be human? Most of us are not exactly human. I’ve never seen you hate us with such vitriol.”

The good humor that Steve had brought with him receded as the conversation picked up again. Tony wasn’t sure of who she meant with ‘most of us’, he guessed the Avengers and he shook his head. “It is not the being human part; it is the not being who I am now. It is the whole ‘I’m your father’ shock thing.”

“Then keep being yourself. It is that simple.” Natasha crossed her arms and observed closely his reaction to that.

“It is not! You are telling me to be human even if it turns out that I am not.” Tony smiled his press smile. “That is just selfish, you just want me to be on your side when the not-humans attack and you will be all just meddling ants.” Natasha was well seasoned in the matters of Stark-speak, so she ignored the jab again.

“I’m telling you to be the version of Tony Stark that you have chosen to be. Don’t be the billionaire or the philanthropic hero.”She waited until he was looking at her again. “Be the person you are comfortable being: You. Stand tall and don’t yield to others.” Natasha replied without a hint of a smile.

Tony was reminded of the files about her past that she had sacrificed in the name of saving the world. Maybe there was more to her speech than a friend reassuring another friend with empty words and tricks. However, he put on a cocky smile. “I stand tall, check. I always do it! I stand and I even plant towers with my name where I stand.” Tony spread his arms to point out that they were actually in his tower.

“You give up on yourself, frequently.” She broke eye contact to force Tony to listen. “You don’t give up with your projects, but you don’t usually defend who you are, beyond the things that the media has called you.”

“Did you sleep last night?” Tony twisted, trying to see her face anyway. “What have you been drinking recently? I got myself out of being kidnapped, and not only once! When have I not defended myself, crazy woman?”

“You gave up Iron Man when you thought that Pepper wanted that.” Tony shook his head, suddenly sitting normally on the workbench and not seeking her eyes anymore. “You gave up your life when you thought New York needed the sacrifice.” Tony didn’t say a word. “You gave up your company when you thought that it was the thing to do and never got it back.” Tiny sigh of Tony. “You gave up the Merchant of Death, even if it was an improvement for the rest of us.”

Natasha waited, but he didn’t protest the accusations, so she continued.

“You give up yourself depending on who you trust. That is not good. Stop drifting. When you don’t trust anyone you use projects for someone else as shelter. You have always hidden either in work or in the spotlight.”

“You sound like a cheap self-help book,” Tony grumbled bitterly.

“And I’ll keep sounding like one as long as you behave like a textbook case of an anxiety patient.” She took one of the dismantled pieces that Tony had not gotten around to sorting or rebuilding. “Find a meaning that doesn’t depend on anyone’s opinion.” She passed him the piece. “Fighting the bad guys is not a good life motivator. Believe me, there will always be a new one.” She noticed how focused on said piece Tony was, so she added, “Building things is a job, not your life. You can’t be reduced to a genius, billionaire, philanthropist; with or without suit. “

“So what am I, in your wise, old eyes?” Tony threw the piece of metal to one of the piles of scraps.

“Complete. You are who you are. You don’t need to change that.” She stood up and walked right in front of him. If she was more tactile, she would have put a hand on his shoulder.

Tony looked at her, almost angry, but with eyes too sad and resigned to be considered anger. “One doesn’t learn shit just being complete.” Tony propped his head on his hand and his arm on his knee. “Its like you don’t know us at all. We are who we are because we are running away from who we were. You want me to stop running? To stop all that mumbo-jumbo of learning from your mistakes?"

“I said complete, I never said you were done learning. An idiot like you will need forever to actually learn,” she deadpanned with the smallest hint of humor to see Tony half-smiling again.

“Oh! God! No!” Tony said putting his wrist over his eyes in an over dramatic fashion and turning his half-smile into a full smile. “You want me to settle down.”

“No need. Just find an anchor.” Natasha almost smiled. Tony’s antics either made her groan or smile sincerely. She liked having that kind of idiot around, even if she didn’t like joining said antics.

“Sooo, commitment issues,” Tony mocked, peeking from over his wrist.

“You are being obtuse on purpose and oversimplifying. I drifted too, and I have followed a great number of things. What I learnt was: follow yourself.”

“Like Steve.”

“It is a lesson that he learnt before you and me, yes.” Natasha used Tony’s knees to put herself at his eye-level. “In your case, you are comfortable when you start things. You like moving on, changing … you should use that in your favour. Be the one to make the change, instead of waiting for it to happen, and change things around you instead of changing yourself.”

“‘Your center is fun, Jack’ Now you sound like a kids film.” Tony smiled bitterly, but Natasha was sure that he had listened.

“As I said, I’ll stop sounding like one when you stop being one.” Nat straightened and crossed her arms. “And your center would be chaos.”

“You’ve seen it! You said you had not!” Tony threw his hands in the air feigning offense. He stood up next to her, but he turned on the holo-display, shifting between files with a flicker of his hand and recuperating what he had erased. Nat walked close, without interfering with the display; she knew that Tony was thinking. “So what do I do? To still be me, I mean. I thought I was me.”

“I won’t tell you what to do, Tony! Stop being a baby and think.”

Tony chuckled and moved his arms repositioning the priority of his projects. Everything SHIELD on hold, except the Winter Soldier. Hydra-hunting on top. Choosing could have been easy, but there was the new suit … the Gauntlet … magic …

“Aloud, Tony. Think aloud if you want me to help.”

“I need a new suit,” Tony complied, “there is no way around it. I don’t want to have anything to do with SHIELD. Maria is rescuing the loyal strays, if I understood what Cap said last night. I want to destroy Hydra, but I want to finish that Magic Theory more. The Gauntlet is interesting, but Walker is out there and I want to know what’s with my past, but I don’t want to know … ”  

“Focus on the meeting. You still trust the Avengers. And we are all going to war. Start with that and decide on the way. You always say that you think better when you have many things in your head.”

“That is a good idea. Why didn’t you become a therapist?” He pulled five projects that Natasha easily identified as plans for spaceships, defense mechanisms, maps with some kind of strategy, something like a space glider called Nopeinpyörä … Of course Stark was paranoid enough to predict and prepare for an intergalactic war in advance. Tony accessed the mainframe of his company and he picked six more projects. If those were on the company’s servers, it meant that those were already in development. Tony closed all the other projects.

Natasha noticed that Jarvis projected something else semitranslucent right next to Tony’s strategy maps. She had been talking to Jarvis.

“But I still want to decide something about Walker now, I can’t work knowing that he’s in the tower unchecked and not knowing what to do. What do you think about him?” Tony tended to be more serious when some kind of betrayal was being discussed, even in public. He focused his attention on Natasha.

“He is still a good tool. That much is undeniable. For anything else, you’ll have to take your chances.” Natasha reviewed the open projects with critical eye. Some would be useful, some were impossible, and some would be perfect if they had more time. Regarding the sorcerer, she didn’t want to give an opinion just yet; anything definitive would tie her up.

“I know you have read him, you always do. What do you know? You knew he was lying, why didn’t you kick him out?” Tony could have been defensive, he could have accused Natasha of helping the newcomer, but he wasn’t. Natasha hadn’t had that kind of trust in a very long time, so now she liked to think that she took care of it: she didn’t want to lie to Tony.

“We can use him for this war. He can be discarded later. But you don’t care about that, you want to know if you can let him in. It is not a wise choice, Tony, but I also know that you can’t work with someone on something that catches your interest and not let them in. That is a risk, but it is your risk to take,” she said truthfully while she considered Tony’s maps and the superposition of the sorcerer’s that Jarvis had pulled for them.

“So he is going to go away with all that knowledge still in his head and I am going to stay here and work on something else because I can’t keep my cool when there is something to geek about. Good summary?” Tony kept a bad neutral face and he threw at her the file about Thanos and the Nine Realms that the team had collected in Asgard.

“Could be, if you could actually keep away from ‘all that knowledge in his head.’” Natasha read the file letting time pass as Tony became more nervous by the second.

“There is more, right? You wouldn’t say any of this if you didn’t think that you’ve got all four aces up your sleeve.” He crossed his arms, standing on the other side of the room.

“I have plans for him.” Natasha’s sadistic smile made Tony perk up with her.

Tony clapped his hands and scrubbed them like the villain of an old film. “Are they humiliating? Do they put him in an awkward place? Can you film it?”

“Certainly,” she said. She _could_. She was not going to film it, because a record could be used against her at some point, but she could.

“Good. Then I might forgive him.”

“There is nothing to forgive.” She was very good at keeping her public faces, and she was not supposed to know that there was actually something to forgive. “He has done nothing to wrong you that you know of. He has answered your questions quite well, and with a minimal amount of lies, if you would believe me. You, on the other hand, have accused him of lies and deceptions. If someone should apologize, it should be you.”

“What?!” Tony stared. “You know that he is shady and he has his own agenda, he must be guilty of something.”

“Unless you find proof that he connected you to the ashes, he has done nothing but help and be a mysterious loner difficult to read. I wouldn’t trust him, though. I really wouldn’t. Do try to keep that in mind,” she said earnestly. She wasn’t sure if Tony would get the hint, but she couldn’t outright say what she thought on the subject.

At least he was thinking on it. He asked Jarvis to 3-D print several copies of the mechanical parts of the Gauntlet. “Would you do something for me?” Tony said after a minute staring blankly at his Magic Theory.

“Push his buttons for you and see how reliable he is?” Natasha only knew because it was exactly what she was going to do, but she didn’t know that Tony’s trust in her extended so far; she was not going to point it out and ruin it.

“You read my mind.” Tony answered, taking importance from it.

“I try.” Nat raised an eyebrow.

“Creepy,” Tony retorted lightning fast.

“Simple-minded,” she answered in kind.

“I’ll have you know I’m a genius!” He pushed his finger pads against his arc reactor.

“A simple-minded genius, perhaps.”

Tony knew that Natasha was over serious business when she let him deflect like usual. Their chats were refreshing. Rhodey, Pepper, Bruce, Cap … all of them got frustrated and riled up if he joked in the middle of a serious conversation, not with Nat. With her, Tony could keep up his barriers, he could make jokes, he could pretend that everything was fine, bullshit the whole thing and she read between the lines, ignoring the charade.

She said what the Black Widow needed to say and she came back to being Nat seamlessly. Tony didn’t need to open up and confess, but she made it easy, because she understood whether he lowered the barriers or not.

Natasha stayed for a few minutes more, discussing the different projects and which ones could be realistically useful. Later she left, and Tony stayed in with the feeling of ground under his feet. Not even Captain America, or his science bro, or his beer mates could do that for him. Pepper had had her moments, but Natasha was a master at this.

Tony faced his workshop. He could make weapons for the Avengers, he could use the protocol he had installed in SHIELD’s hardware, he could pry into that super secret meeting, he could try to find his birth records, he could work on that space elevator that was catching dust somewhere. He had things to do that didn’t involve being dragged by someone else, he had a lot of choices that he had been avoiding. Natasha hadn’t put it like that, but Tony had driven himself to a corner and it was time to recover lost ground.

More or less at that point, the realization that an interplanetary war was brewing around him truly dawned on him. Right, he didn’t have time for self pity, there were nine realms to save. Stark Industries was going to take a sudden interest in aeronautics real soon.

While Tony got himself out of a metaphorical gutter. Natasha went to the gym to prepare for a good spar. She instructed Jarvis to stop any audio recordings. Nobody would be too surprised, even if someone came to peek (as would happen, no doubt). It was a regular request, since noises made during sparring had been used more than once to shame the one producing the noise. Fortunately, none of the Avengers were blushing maidens, but the joke had leaked, and the general public now had access to their noises. No more noises in the gym since then.

Natasha brought a Stark pad with her and Jarvis displayed images, recordings and conversations in it before she even asked. She opened the last mission she had assigned to herself; the other Avengers were not privy to it. It was obvious enough if one paid attention, but nobody was paying attention. The so called Walker would fit perfectly in the mission.

Putting a leash on the God of Mischief was going to be a nice challenge; but, as Tony put it, she had all four aces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late Christmas!


	13. Two Queens in the Game

Loki reached the Avengers’ gym hours later, having thought much without reaching any conclusion. The gym walls were reflective and the floor was made of blue rubber. It was a bare space beside a few benches: logical for a sparring room, though in Asgard their walls would be covered with weapons.

Loki had found that humans stored their weapons in the antechamber to this room: very impractical. Humans had strange and absurd close-combat weapons, like bars with round ends that were not even sharpened. Loki knew that humans were over the ‘hit with blunt object’ stage of tools, so he wasn’t sure why there weren’t spears, swords, axes and the like.

It was only a fleeting thought; he wasn’t worried about some Midgardian artifacts; the recent conversation with five of the Avengers plagued his mind more pressingly. All the possibilities were unsettling; Loki had already started to make plans just in case the heroes managed to drive him away. If they convinced Thor that he shouldn’t trust Walker, he would have to assume a new identity. Probably one of those mutants, so his magic would be less conspicuous.

He still had options, as always; Loki hated being put against a wall. He would miss his current disguise, though. Thor and his easy chatter, the connections he had made in Jotunheim and Muspelheim with the redhead's face, the water tribes … even the Avengers had seemed to be willing to include him. Last night, that is.

The Widow was sitting on a bench when Loki opened the doors, but she was expecting him. She tossed aside the device that had been in her hands and stood in a fighting stance when he approached the mat, right in the middle of the room.

So it was not just a meeting point; she actually wanted to spar as well as talk. Loki had expected something like that; with the woman being the Avenger best suited to interrogate, but still a warrior. An interrogation during a fight, juggling all her abilities, was very particular of her, the other Avengers would have settled for one or the other.

"What do you suggest we do, Lady Widow?" Loki asked good-naturedly. He noticed Romanoff’s nearly imperceptible twitch.

"Walker.” The name carried some disdain and, at least for Loki, it reeked of control. “Teach me to fight magic.” She stood in a tense stance, not quite ready to fight, but not quite relaxed. “A fighting style that Thor won't recognize." She pointed to an interior window behind her with a nod of her head. The Hawk was there. More people were joining him as they spoke.

Loki made an educated guess as to her intentions; after the helicarrier, Loki knew the assassin was good. She appeared her weakest when she was gaining the most, and she didn’t shy from tricks and lies. Even knowing that, she was difficult to predict. By her words, at least they seemed to have left Thor out for the moment. Time to see what they could do to each other.

"Blasts should be generic enough, Agent Romanoff." Loki changed her name in the hopes of finding what she wanted Walker to call her. She seemed to be expecting something very different from the other Avengers.

"That's what I thought."

She made a gesture for Loki to come at her and Loki sent green energy flares, one after the other in an easy game of dodge that did nothing to tire either of the fighters, so when Natasha spoke, she was not even winded.

“What happens when there is nowhere to dodge?”

Loki advanced shooting a few more bolts, faster and more difficult to avoid, before giving an answer. “Nothing I say will change our last conversation. Stark is sure that all I have are ill intentions. You have no reason to heed my warnings.”

“Try me.”

Loki took a step to the side and shot again, getting closer to the point where a simple human couldn’t be fast enough. Natasha stayed one step ahead of him, consistently. It could have been amusing, since it was nowhere near a real fight; it was a display that those behind that window would probably find pleasing to the eye. Loki could have stayed still and Romanoff wouldn’t have been able to touch him, but he left open spots so she could come even closer. However, Romanoff was too serious; Loki had seen warriors who enjoyed practicing and pushing themselves to the limit. There was no joy in the Spider’s stylized moves.

“Warlocks in battle are dangerous.” Loki decided to answer, if only to get something out of her in exchange. “They should be the first to fall if one wishes to be victorious.” Natasha got the hint and made a couple of moves to attack besides dodging, it didn’t work, but Loki let her close enough to look like a near miss. “Now, if the sorcerer is well positioned and defended, you can only hope he is a bad sorcerer.” One of the blasts finally hit her in the chest. It wasn’t something powerful, so it simply pushed her a few feet back. “Then you can channel weak power to the ground, or behind you.”

Loki lowered his arms and slumped his shoulders, showing bodily that he didn’t intend harm. He came close to her and offered his hand. He wouldn’t normally give away this kind of information freely, but he had noticed how the Widow held some control over her team; having her on his side would win him a good part of the group. Also, Loki himself never used _blasts_ in true combat _,_ so he was not putting himself in any danger. Only the warlocks stupid enough to keep using the most basic form of offensive magic would reap the deadly benefit of the Widow’s new experience.

Natasha took his hand without a shadow of doubt and Loki knew that it was a show of power. Difficult to understand, since she had been the one to receive a blow seconds ago, but it also told Loki that there was more to the assassin.

Loki sent a small but constant stream of energy through her hand.

“You should feel that like pressure; move yourself to let the strain go.”

Natasha extended her other arm, feeling the energy flowing through her, she looked at the glass where most of her team was observing.

“What are they doing?” Bruce asked the only other Asgardian in the watching area.

The sparring room was soundproof, and Hulkproof, and Godproof, and serumproof, so the spectators could only guess what the fighters were saying. There was magic going on, but that was the full extent of what the humans in the room could guess.

Clint was perched on the amazingly small ledge of the window, looking unusually attentively at the pair. Kate had left for now and Sam was somewhere avoiding Tony probably. Jane and Steve were standing close to the window, leaning forward with their arms folded. Bruce was taking notes on actual paper; Tony would mock him were he in the room.

“Basic warrior training.” Thor replied with a simple smile. “Magic is … a living thing. I believe Walker is teaching her to rein it in.”

Bruce had been reading Tony’s work on magic, so the odds were in his favor if he guessed that magic was not a “living thing” but it rather obeyed either Fourier's law, Ohm's law or a mixture of both. On the other side of the glass, Natasha turned her arms and torso like a ballet dancer, all grace and control, until a faded green and wobbly blast shot through her fingers, and she recoiled. The ball of light was similar to the ones that she had dodged, but more like a laser and less like a ball.

Thor smiled wider and Bruce asked about it. The God turned to his friend with his more radiant than usual smile. “I have not known Walker for long, but look at how they move together. They could be good for each other,” Thor said looking, back at the sparring room. “They would be a splendid couple.”

Bruce looked at Thor’s nape disbelievingly, then he looked at the other occupants of the room, to see if he was the only one bewildered. Clint returned a dumbfounded look and Jane and Steve turned from their silent observation with matching stupefied faces that Thor ignored. Bruce shook his head energetically and Clint returned the gesture with a horrified grimace.

Inside of the glass, the magic lesson was just as passionate as it looked in Thor’s mind, but not in the same direction. Both participants stayed silent after the assassin started deflecting his blasts. She managed to land a few hits on him, both physical and magical. However, sending the magic energy back was bad for her; the trick he had just shared was supposed to help conduct the magic to the opposite side. Throwing it back entailed an abrasive damage to her strength; at best she could throw back half of the spell. She had to absorb the rest of the energy.

Loki didn’t stop or correct her, though. She was learning on her own terms. It was almost as fascinating as watching Dr. Banner last night tackle alchemy with human chemistry, or Jane working her science to imitate the Bifrost. Nothing was as interesting as Stark diving in magic and dissecting it to its most basic components, but Loki could admit that he was biased.

It was a wonder to consider, though. Humans were adaptative to a ridiculous point; they took to magic like fishes to water. Loki could see it clear as day; they would reach the levels of the other realms given half a chance. It made no sense that those creatures hadn’t had any knowledge of magic until a few years back.

All the realms considered humans a backwards civilization that had never mastered concepts as easy as illusions. Poor humans, with lives so short that they couldn’t learn, so short that they couldn’t create anything valuable, so short that they couldn’t use the potential of their land. Humans lived in the middle of everything and yet they had learnt nothing of the other races’ magic. They could have been the center of the Nine realms, but had to be very simple creatures to ignore such basic arts as magic.

At least that was the saying in Asgard.

But Odin had to know better; if Loki saw it now, Odin must have seen it thousands of years in advance. Loki added to his thoughts something that had been mentioned in Jotunheim: Jotnar used to have colonies in other worlds, now reduced to the white-haired scouts. Had a Jotun colony come in contact with humans peacefully, it would have been a disaster for Asgard.

Expelling the Jotun colony and calling it a war was the best possible reason to justify Asgard’s interdiction of Midgard. It gave the Allfather a perfectly valid basis to strangle the weak realm from the other ones. Loki had never considered the consequences of keeping the ways of Yggdrasil closed for so long, but the answer was obvious. Humans never discovered magic because there was no magic to discover.

Loki wondered if the rise of mutants and superheroes in the recent years was related to magic flowing back from portals opening, like the one that threw Thor or the one the Chitauri opened, or maybe whichever spell Odin had used was getting old with the caster.

Loki was thrown quite literally out of his own thoughts when a foot connected with his jaw. The human before him, Natasha, didn’t even smirk at her victory. Loki wished he wasn’t pretending to be Walker, he would retaliate if he didn’t have such a frail cover to maintain.

He recovered swiftly and prepared to up his blasts. He wasn’t above petty revenge no matter what shape he took. Then Natasha landed the second hit in a few minutes; in words rather than flesh.

“I know who you are.” Loki didn’t move a muscle.

Well, that wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it wasn’t nice all the same. He had seen the assassin trying to cut his efforts to talk to Stark; it was obvious that she suspected something. She could still be trying to trick him into revealing himself, so Loki pulled a confused face and he shot a pathetic blast, compared to what he really wanted to shoot at her.

Natasha dived and looked at the glass window behind her, where the group of heroes was still watching. “You can keep guessing how much I know, but I could also say your name out loud for everyone to listen. Thor would be _so_ surprised.” Then she tried to punch him with her right; Loki blocked her and affected a neutral face to hide his rage. He couldn’t hide completely a snarl when he threatened back.

“How quaint of you, coming to fight me, telling me willingly that you are a threat and thinking that you will leave this place walking.”

Natasha walked around him, predator-like, prepared for the next shot of magic when he opened fire. “Here is what you don’t understand: I work in a team, where _you?_ are just a loner.”

Loki walked around just as much as she did and he didn’t limit himself to blasts; he countered with some hits of his own too. “Oh! Then someone else knows. If you suffer a tragic accident, they will uncover me.” Loki could almost smile. The assassin was crafty; he didn’t know the extent of her knowledge, but she had managed to threaten him just with his name.

Loki sped up the conversation, just as he had sped up his blasts, the human could obviously take it. Their movements were not a show anymore; Loki needed to restrain himself, but their fight turned from an elegant choreography to short and to-the-point moves. The added complexity of the conversation was inversely related to the unnecessary flourishes of their fight. Anyone watching from the sidelines and a with a bit of fighting experience would notice the change of pace.

“This means you want …”

“Yes.” Their breaths were starting to show some exhaustion too.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the open answer. “Your terms?”

“Everything I want exactly when I want it.” The little human had the cheek to smirk.

Loki raised his other eyebrow. “Within reason,” he said in a calm voice and throwing in a frown to make himself clear. She might have him trapped, but he was not going to be collared so easily; his plans had been derailed too many times in his latest scheme. He wasn’t going to let just any human mess with his carefully laid project. If she asked for too much, he wouldn’t have time to follow through with the things he needed to do. It would be easier to start again than to slave himself to the human. The Widow was probably only trying to find his limits anyway, and he was more than willing to put limits to her arrogance.

“I will do nothing I don’t want to do. Remember that I can simply start again and your information wouldn’t be worth a bad night of sleep. Furthermore, I’m fairly sure I know who that teammate of yours is. There is but one who has helped you to keep me away from Stark.”

Natasha hummed noncommittally, and it sounded disbelieving.

“Stark’s anima.” Loki tried to see the Widow’s response, even though he knew he was right. “I could destroy him too. And you gave yourself away, since you are right; I’m a loner, but you are a team member. What would you do to avoid losing one of them? I wonder.”

“I wouldn’t have minded that comment, if they were actually just teammates,” she said, lowering her eyebrows in a menacing way.

“You don’t need to mind that comment, seeing that neither of us is going to involve them.” Loki tried to soften his words.

“Yes, we are. I noticed you need his trust, for some reason. And you can’t earn it now. I can pave the way for you, but I don’t think I want to right now,” she said with a playful smile that didn’t feel at odds with her previous fury. She was playful like a cat with a mouse.

If they had been asked to describe the showdown of said cat and mouse, Natasha would call it a cold war with a mouse armed with nuclear weapons. Loki would say that the mouse had a bilgesnipe’s poisonous horns and compare the exchange of looks on a small Migardian mat to the everlasting war of chaos and order. Either would be an apt description.

“What would I need?” he asked, watchful. Loki was treading unstable ground yet again.

“First, my approval,” she said through a smirk. Natasha for her part, knew that she was playing a dangerous game, and she had all four aces; but she didn’t know if they were playing with a human deck.

“You dare,” Loki rumbled gravely, Natasha didn’t have a way to know if it was for show or genuinely threatening.

“I do. I have your identity.” Her smirk disappeared.

She needed to move quickly. Loki was a trickster, but he was also a prince, and a warrior, he changed facets abruptly, but not without a reason. Natasha liked the challenge of finding where his different patterns overlapped and how she should react to them, it was a dangerous game, maybe too dangerous. Loki’s looming stance didn’t help to dissipate the air of danger.

“How far can you run?” Loki stepped closer, intimidating. “How deep can you hide? Because once I don't need your silence you'll be shouting my name and begging for mercy.”

Natasha just rolled her shoulders, looking tense but perfectly comfortable; she was not going to let that pretentious alien know if she was or wasn’t scared of him. “You are in no position to threaten me.”

“Neither are you.” Loki clasped his hands behind his back. “We can but bargain, since you are the one who chose to come with a deal instead of leaving with the truth.”

“Your terms?” Natasha seemed to relax, even though the fight was far from over. They had guessed enough about each other to see that a physical attack (at least a real one) was out of the question.

“Nothing that makes me expose myself,” Loki enumerated with his fingers. “Nothing that kills me. Nothing that helps you to kill me later. Nothing that interferes with what I’m doing. Nothing that hinders me. I’m not asking for much.” He smiled wolfishly.

“Anything within those terms?” She was skeptical; he was a trickster after all, she needed to remind herself of all his tricks, this was not going to be a clean deal.

“And within reason, Little Spider. I didn’t think I’d have to repeat myself to you concretely.”

The exchange that followed was not very long, since both parties were playing with words to leave loopholes to use later. The agreement would last until the end of the war with Thanos, or until Loki stopped being useful, but Loki had managed to convince the Widow that he needed the full support of the Avengers if he was to be useful to her and during the war.

The rest of their time in the sparring room was consumed in a thorough questioning about the Chitauri, their previous intergalactic wars, and their allies. Once Natasha pried everything she wanted out of Loki, she had enough information to complete her last little project.

Thanos’ death was their main common goal, but they had discovered a joint fixture of hate towards the Allfather and some common ground regarding weapons and strategy. Neither of them would confuse their pretended camaraderie with friendship, but the other inhabitants of the tower would, as soon as they stepped out of the sparring room together.

Natasha would compare it with a joint venture, like the ones she had needed to deal with when she posed as Stark’s secretary. It was a partnership with an expiration date, which would only work as long as their endgame was the same.

Loki thought that it was regretful; had Odin not banned all contact with Midgard, Loki would have taken this mortal under his wing. She could have been even greater than now, terrorizing the Eight. On the other hand, all his protected ones had faced dreadful fates, so maybe it was better that she had been left alone.

Natasha was not the kind of person to let people make her wait, so upon finding Tony in the living room, as expected, she gave him a brief smile and said, “The new one and I are going _out._ ” She pulled the engineer a few steps aside to reassure him. “We talked.”

“You mean you talked and Walker enacted the part of an Asgardian punching bag?” Tony asked brightly.

Natasha ignored that. “Walker could work with us. I’m going to test that. I have a mission he can help with and prove his trustworthiness. He has agreed to the test, even though he doesn’t know what the mission is about. This is a good thing. But stay away from everything related to him until I come back, it could be dangerous.” Natasha ordered, knowing perfectly that it wouldn’t be obeyed and that Tony would want to talk to Walker as soon as they came back; as she wanted.

“Are you going to tell _me_ what the mission’s about? Nat? Natasha? Where’d you get a mission from with SHIELD down?”

“I’m going to borrow your jet. Behave or I'll tell Clint about that little something you have been trying to hide.” She gave Tony a casual pat, collected Loki, and left.

Tony stayed behind, shouting questions down the elevator shaft after them _._ He didn’t try to follow and Loki thought that the human didn’t have nearly the same animosity as before the assassin had talked to him.

In truth, there was no mission. There wouldn’t be congratulatory pats on the back and there would be no paperwork anywhere. This was Natasha’s pet project; Loki’s arrival had been just perfect for it.

The sorcerer tried to figure out what her intentions were, but he only had to stay in Midgardian formal clothes and keep close to her, like a boorish custodian. The Widow made a few calls that gave Loki confusing intel about their mission; there was a person to protect, a person to assault, and security to scumble. Loki added these little details to his slowly growing analysis of the Black Widow's plot.

“What do you mean for me to do here?” Loki asked again.

After Loki gave up his fruitless inquiries, the assassin stayed silent and the quiet monotony only grew with the engine of the jet and the endless ocean outside the windows. She had only handed him a Stark pad after finding earth below the contraption again, just before they reached the outskirts of some Midgardian city. Even then, the information in the device was not a clear report, but several pieces of news that didn’t seem to have a correlation. There was a report about an assassination, which was to be expected; incidents of civilian alien sightings; scientific accounts of energy spikes worldwide; a gossip column about some politician neglecting his public appearances; a plane crash … If there was something of value in that information, Loki was missing the thread that connected it.

He was not going to admit that, though, so he tailed the human, waiting for the piece that would make sense of the puzzle. Attempts to needle her into a reaction had repeatedly not gone in his favor, but watching silently was one of his less feted skills.

Natasha was enjoying having the Norse God following her with no idea of what to expect. The mission was promising, although not necessarily good. She had changed into a smart suit, closer to her _Natalie_ look, and she had made Loki dress to match. She wasn’t quiet and dressing him in her uniform just for her own amusement. No, she wanted to see his unguarded reactions and, even though she had already formed an opinion of the fallen god, she wanted to see how right her hypothesis was.

They reached the building that hid the headquarters where the last member of the World Council _—_ code name Hawley; not even Natasha had managed to find her real name _—_ would be in a few moments. Natasha had tracked all the members since the fallout of SHIELD with Steve. All had died, one by one, except for Hawley.

Someone was trying to cover the assassinations with accidents or simply hushing the affair; maybe the new SHIELD, maybe Hydra, maybe another player. New members had been chosen since the first death, but the last member of the original council that planned to turn New York to an atomic wasteland was still alive.

In the lobby of the building, Natasha smiled beatifically at a security guard who instantly recognized some image that she showed on her mobile. The guard escorted them through labyrinthine halls that both Loki and Natasha took time memorizing down to the potted plant on the corner of the fifth floor.

Natasha had had partners before, even though she had worked alone for most of her life. She knew that she could have asked her partner to focus on extraction routes while she did what she came to do; it would make things easier. She was not going to trust their extraction to someone who would rather see her dead, though.

Similarly, Loki knew that there were silence spells, sleeping enchantments, protection charms, illusion glamours, and several other magics that could help in their mission if the human would only tell him what they were supposed to do. But he would need to show the extent of his abilities, and that was revealing too much to a potential future enemy.

Their guide stayed standing guard and pointed to the last door on the left of what looked like regular offices of high standing. The spy opened the door with a small rotary tool on the bolt of the door that she must have had in her suitcase for that purpose. She ushered them in and closed the disabled door.

Loki didn’t have time to check their location, only that it was a room with a door and a big window that he could use to escape. They didn’t need to wait for long; a pair of footsteps sounded from down the hall and Natasha readied herself. She had yet another gadget. She used it to knock out the already shocked woman who came in when the door swung open.

The guard who had escorted them up broke the fall of the middle-aged woman and didn’t protest when the Widow pulled a syringe and injected the woman with a liquid.

“That should give us a few hours,” the spy told the bodyguard.

“Make sure that it works, I’ve been shitting bricks since the whole alien thing started. They didn’t train us to fight things out of a sci-fi movie,” the guard said, putting the woman’s body over his shoulder like a dead weight.

The guard left for places unknown and Natasha took another piece of technology out of her suitcase. Loki wondered if humans had mastered the science of pocket dimensions when he wasn’t looking. She used her newest tech to put on the face of the woman quite convincingly and refused his help when he suggested that he could shape-shift to save her the trouble.

The next hour was endless. The assassin took him to places that he didn’t know or understand; she didn’t do anything of importance except rid them of the entourage that seemed to follow the middle-aged woman everywhere (the security detail, someone had said) and present Loki as her secretary.

Loki only knew that a secretary was some kind of underling. He didn’t mind playing the part, but it annoyed him that the human was trying to play with him like that. His blind situation regarding their mission came handy in that moment, because Loki could distract himself from her childish attempts by thinking of who the woman they had abducted and impersonated must be: someone important, but not a queen, maybe someone from the military forces.

It also made Loki think of his own recent impersonation of Odin. Humans, or at least some of them, were very familiar with Loki’s way of thinking. It was disturbing, and dangerous, since he was starting to like the race more than he should. The same fondness from familiarity had happened when he learnt some real facts about the Jotnar, and Loki had an unhealthy attraction for disturbing and dangerous chaos, so he was already eagerly considering traveling when they won the war.

Loki was still not sure of the full extent of Natasha's intentions when she made them drive farther and farther, but he could guess that they were expecting company of the unpleasant kind. The security detail had disappeared when they had asked for privacy, and Natasha had driven them away from heavily populated areas, to a despicable building similar to an inn. They were bait for someone.

Loki could find reason behind choosing an isolated place to lure their to-be attacker, but the place was horribly simple. Surely someone like the important woman they were impersonating wouldn’t put one of her expensive shoes in such a mundane place.

Loki had seen worse inns; traveling with the Warriors Three resulted in dirty lodges and having to sleep with an eye open so nobody would steal their belongings. This wasn’t as bad, but there was an air of mediocre wealth that was even worse. The stacks of papers that he found on a metal stand on the outside advertising the place said “picturesque.” Loki could only think how appropriate it would be when their foe died there and nobody ever came back.

However, even though Loki had been prepared for an assault, he couldn’t have been prepared for their assailant without some kind of warning. The energy explosions hit them when they were in the foyer.

He had only had the foresight of drawing up a shield against a human attack, so part of the explosion passed his shield and threw the spy with Hawley’s face across the room.

Loki needed some time to recover from the surprise, despite his years of training. Even the employees of the inn were quicker than him screaming and fleeing, but he had his good reasons to be shocked. That was not just any kind of explosion; it had energy from a Chitauri weapon. It didn’t make sense.

Had the human sold him to Thanos already? Of course, by the time Loki got moving, said human had found cover and was looking for their attacker. She didn’t seem surprised, but she wouldn’t be in a defensive position if she had wanted to sell him.

Loki took cover behind a wall from where he could keep an eye on the assassin; two other humans were already there, one holding a chair by the back and the other cowering behind. Loki ignored them and paid attention to the foyer and the woman he was working with, who was hiding behind the counter. The Chitauri was still hiding too, but now he was forced to reveal himself or leave in defeat.

But what was the reason for his presence in the first place? Was he the one the Widow expected? That would explain the alien sightings that she had considered important. But why would they want to kill a simple human? Why wasn’t Thanos raiding the whole realm if he was already there?

Loki suspected that the Chitauri would choose to leave and try again. If it got away, the Widow wouldn’t have any qualms about dragging Loki through the same troubles once again. Furthermore, Loki wanted answers and he wanted them now.

 _Hawley_ , or at least a very convincing illusion of her, walked out of hiding with her hands up. The Chitauri shot again and the Widow had the chance to pinpoint the source of the energy. Whilst she shot from her cover, Loki placed illusions of the other Avengers in the front door and the entrance to something like a feast room.

That only left one easy way out, that passed right next to the counter and the wall where Loki was hiding. Outnumbered, the creature would need to flee, and in its panic it wouldn’t suspect a trap. Since the Chitauri was still using what was probably a cloaking device, the Widow wouldn’t be able to see or fight it. Then it would need to pass next to Loki, and with his magic he could use a small spell to drain the energy from the device and fight a fairer fight.

As expected, the creature fled through the open space, but when it was running next to the counter, Natasha noticed the footprints on the carpet and jumped at the invisible enemy. Loki used the distraction to leave his own cover, get close and do the draining spell anyway.

Natasha tried to subdue the now visible alien, with a bit of trouble, since its joints didn’t bend or break the same way as humans’, so the ceiling took a few blows, the floor a few more, and Loki was close to get hit at least once. The sorcerer had summoned his daggers, but Natasha got in the way of a clear throw.

After a good hit with her knee, the alien’s weapon flew to the other end of the room, where the human who had been holding the chair took his chance. Loki drew a barrier between the clueless human and the fight; he had experience with Thor’s friends and their happy triggers with weapons they didn’t know.

Loki had also noticed that the woman was not killing the creature in sight, despite having a weapon of her own, so he abstained from anything that would kill the beast instantly. When he found a good moment, he put one of his daggers in the creature’s throat, whispering, “Stop your struggling.”

The creature turned to fight him too, but the Widow used the move to pin the creature to the floor, take Loki’s knife and keep the threat very clear. The Chitauri was in what looked like a painful lock and would have been the nightmare of a human contortionist.

“This is why you are here.” Natasha told Loki without taking her eyes from her prey.

“Excuse me?” was all Loki could think of saying.

“The Allspeak.”

Loki blinked slowly. “You have enough information to bribe me, a powerful sorcerer, a warrior, and you choose to use me as an interpreter.”

The Chitauri made a muffled noise and Natasha looked at Loki pointedly, solving the argument before it started. Loki rolled his eyes and repeated the creature’s words.

“Must be the human they told me about.” Loki made it sound exasperated when Natasha knew that the creature had sounded tired. She also knew that Loki was repeating the same words because the creature glared at the sorcerer, who shrugged petulantly.

“What did they say about me.” Loki repeated her words and she tightened the knife to the Chitauri’s throat.

“That you were dangerous; you have killed some of my predecessors and nobody managed to land permanent damage on you,” Loki said after a few chirrups of the creature.

“True. They couldn’t talk; they weren’t useful for me, that is why you are still alive. Do you understand?” she threatened further.

“What would make you spare my life?”

“Several things.” The creature made a bitter sound that Loki didn’t need to translate. “You have been killing the members of the World Security Council. In revenge, I assume.” The creature nodded, Natasha waited for Loki’s confirmation before continuing. “But they are not the ones to blame for your defeat.”

Natasha noticed Loki tensing beside her, as she knew he would. She had wanted to see Loki when the Chitauri appeared and the fear in the lines of his face didn’t disappoint. This sudden suspicion that she would blow his cover and hand him to the Chitauri further confirmed her theory that Loki was not in command of the Chitauri army as he made everyone believe. It also proved that he was to blame for their failure to some extent. Now, the other half of her theory.

“Yes they are the ones to blame,” the Chitauri answered. “We are connected, we know what happened in the battlegrounds.”

“Why not go after the one carrying the weapon?” The assassin had been wondering about that one since the Council started to die.

“He was not the Mind of the Hive; they were. They gave the orders; they were a threat to our colony.” Loki’s repetitions carried more feelings than the Trickster liked, now that he was not the one fabricating the words. Natasha was reading both aliens at the same time; Loki was realizing now more of what was going on exactly, and the other alien was giving away several key considerations about his own race.

Natasha had known about the hive-mind because of Bruce’s incursions in neuroxenobiology and because they dropped dead when the mental link broke with the portal. They seemed to apply the same hive concept to other species, so Chitauri soldiers had come back to kill the human “Queens.” It also meant that their behavior during the invasion was completely outlandish for a colony.

“But you were not your own masters during the invasion either, were you?” Loki repeated her words, still waiting. The only reason why he had not left or killed someone already was his role as interpreter; Loki knew that he could simply stop repeating if she dared to hand him to the other aliens.

“What is your meaning? The spy was but a means to open the door to this world.” It took her but a second to realize that he was talking about Loki as a simple spy.

“I’m not talking about him.” Loki relaxed slightly. “On Earth we study our enemy, even after defeated, and hive minds like yours tend to have castes that take care of their queen; never as many soldiers as you brought to earth. We have our theories and we think _—_ ”

Loki stopped her to repeat her words, not wanting to forget anything.

“ _—_ that Chitauri were recruited by a being terrible enough to make a whole species change their way of living.” Natasha made a pause for dramatic effect that was spoiled by the need of more translation. “Someone whose existence wasn’t even known to humans at the time of the invasion; and we would still be ignorant if that being wasn’t set on destroying the worlds.”

Loki seemed to be deep in thought after repeating her words. Thor had mentioned that Chitauri were not a very well known species, and Loki was no sociologist or biologist. It was possible that he thought himself the only one being forced to fight someone else’s war. And he was a former prince; conceited enough to disregard the idea of the Chitauri as his equals in that situation.

Thanos had probably presented to each side the idea that the other was loyal to him. They couldn’t work together against Thanos if both thought that they were alone and controlled by the other. Natasha continued her conclusions, saying ‘we’ each time, because it implied that someone was backing her up. If the creature realized that she was alone, he would attempt to escape again, so ‘we’ it was. Loki resumed his middle-ground role.

“Now, we think that you joined Thanos against your will, like some of his allies. We think that you went after our Council because you were once again free, or on the run from him, and you want to keep your colony safe eliminating the biggest threat you _could_ eliminate.”

The creature let his head bump against the ground in defeat. Natasha didn’t need translation for that either.

“The thing is, we are not the biggest threat; Thanos is. You can’t eliminate Thanos on your own, but you would see a benefit in having him destroyed.” The creature stayed in silence. “You are a hive-mind, your queen must be listening. Am I right?”

The Chitauri said nothing for a few seconds. “You are.”

“Then you won’t need to relay the message that Earth offers an alliance for as long as Thanos is our common enemy.” Loki stared at her disbelievingly before repeating her words.

“You realize that we could go to Thanos with this information and be free of him,” the lizard-alien said too fast to be true; Loki looked at the creature as if the idea of pointy sharp things was crossing his mind repeatedly. Natasha noted the expression for later analysis.

“He is not known for forgiveness,” Loki interrupted for the first time in the conversation. His voice was not as full of animosity as his previous look seemed to indicate. Natasha noted that too. “And neither is the Other. Remember his promises; ‘a pain as unimaginable as to long for something as sweet as death,’” he seemed to quote.

Fine, it looked like Loki had come around to the idea that he could use his own encounter to get closer and manipulate the aliens that he had feared. Natasha approved of the plan; it had the secondary effect of giving her information about how Loki had decided that invading a planet was the worst of several evils; and if the sharp look of the Chitauri could be trusted, it was working.

“Who are you? You must have been in his hands too, then,” the alien shrieked and Loki translated for her once more even though it was directed at him.

“Many have,” Loki continued without Natasha’s saying. “You must have seen his dungeons. The fact still stands: going back, even with useful information, is damning yourselves to a very long suffering. How does it work? Do you all feel the pain if one of yours is tortured? Twice the pain if he gets his claws in two of you? How many does he need until you all break in a madness of shared pain?” Natasha had been going to go with a speech less blunt, since the Chitauri could simply stay aside and escape while Thanos was busy destroying humans.

“We need time to think.” Natasha hoped that Loki had not ruined her chance.

“Why?” Loki seemed … more open. Natasha was not sure of the reason, but he seemed to see something in the Chitauri’s expression that she didn’t; maybe he hadn’t ruined anything. They had gone through the same _Other_ , and whoever he was, he didn’t seem to have a very original range of threats. “You surely see that the shadows are not safe. Sooner or later he’ll find you, he’ll set lose those _things_ with the promise of a respite, and they will find you, find _us._ You know it, so he must be holding something else over you, and I think I know what it is. I had lost that particular point of pressure at that time; but do tell us, why.”

When the creature didn’t answer, Loki burst with a violent shout “WHY?!” that was accompanied by a convenient pull of the knife in Natasha’s hand.

The spy recognized the _good cop and bad cop_ play with a dash of multiple personality disorder to distract the victim from their reluctance to answer. However, Natasha had to stop to consider if it was an act at all when she realized that the topic had the potential to be a sensitive issue. She could guess that one of the most common threats would be the family or loved ones. Loki could be having the bursts of anger of a normal person dealing with shocking or painful news.

She would need the time to digest that, once they dealt with the creature that stirred uncomfortably under her; probably to breathe, but she wasn’t sure if the Chitauri even had noses or needed air. Once he was more comfortable, he spoke again.

“Because the flight deck of one of his ships still has some of our queen larvae!” The Chitauriwarrior contracted the muscles of his face. Natasha was having a bit of trouble reading a face that didn’t have any of the tells that humans did, but there was no doubt here. The sudden tension of his whole face could only mean a very strong animosity, and it was the most intense reaction they had gotten out of him yet. Natasha saw it as a turning point and a very direct way to exploit the situation. “He plans to use them to create a new army of his own, more ready to fight and die for Thanos than the current Chitauri, who failed the mission we were chosen for.” Natasha kept quiet; she mused over her options. Loki didn’t have anything else to add, so he studied the assassin curiously.

“We might be able to provide help in an extraction mission,” she risked. “Though it wouldn’t be a promise.” Loki repeated her words, not fully believing the situation. Maybe he had fallen into a strange portal and this was a different dimension where humans might be the best suited of the Nine to fight Thanos.

“Retrieving them would be desirable,” the alien warned, “but we want them away from the Mad Titan more, even if it means they must be utterly destroyed. He has harmed the Chitauri enough as it is. We need time to recuperate.”

Natasha let go of the hold she had on the creature and pocketed the knife. Loki would have killed it. The message was relayed and the creature was expendable, and a former enemy on top of that; it would have proven who had control of the situation. Loki would have killed it, because the Chitauri were there; maybe … he could admit that maybe they were not the evil race that he had thought them, but they had been there.

They had seen him; seen what Thanos did to him, and they had done nothing. Loki didn’t care that they had been coerced like him. He could even forget that they hadn’t helped; Loki was used to that, but they had borne witness to the God of Fire broken, weak, defenseless, and crumbling under the Other. Loki wanted them either out of his sight or dead.

However, he could see the Widow’s ploy. He could endure the humiliation and play by the rules, _her rules,_ or he could leave. It was an easy choice. Loki’s honor had never meant much; he could bend under the weight of humiliation, where Thor usually snapped. The Widow had probably expected him to drop his own cover or to react badly to the other alien. He had to concede her some credit; it was clever for a human.

She readied her gun sensibly, pointed at the reptilian, and walked back.

“There will be a reunion of humans, mostly humans, to plan against Thanos tomorrow. It will take place where the portal opened. You will be welcome if you decide to join us. Make sure to have a decision by then.”

The creature nodded while rubbing his sore limbs, he turned to leave (Loki noticed then how damaged the Chitauri army had to be. No real assassin would turn his back on an enemy unless he was very sure of himself or very new to the job). Nat elbowed Loki and told him to put a tracker spell on the alien; something that wouldn’t disrupt the one she had already put on him. Loki found some normality and comfort in her wariness and trickery. Humans would probably hunt the Chitauri down if they rejected the offer.

After the alien left, they disarmed the shaking human who had been standing on the other side of Loki’s barrier. Nothing else blew up, but only because the assassin was careful with the disarming and Loki knew which switches to touch to make it safe.

Natasha stayed for a few minutes, making sure that there were no evidences of their presence beside the witnesses, then they used the jet to fly back to Stark Tower. This time Loki didn’t need to ask about their mission and Natasha had reached some determination about him, so she was more receptive to conversation, or a kind of friendlier interrogation. The topic still turned to Loki’s plans, however friendly the chat.

“I’ve seen your maps.”

“How?” Loki only needed to remind himself of the unexpected factor. “Oh! Stark’s anima again, Jarvis is it? I suspected he knew my real name as soon as Stark mentioned something called gesture recognition.” Loki rubbed the palm of one hand against his eyes and pressed his back to the seat of the aircraft.

“I know. You only hide your gestures when Thor is in the room. I’ve seen it.” She seemed amused, and Loki knew why. It was a beginner's mistake; he had lowered his guard because he thought he was alone and because he had underestimated humans.

“It lets me concentrate in more important issues,” he said almost truthfully as he shrugged. “I thought the anima didn’t oppose to my presence, though. He opened the door to Stark’s study; I suspect he also guided me there.” Loki tried to hide how much that confused him. Animas were said to be simple-minded, but he couldn’t think of a single plain thought that could fully explain the decisions of the contraption.

Natasha chuckled without explaining why. “You’ll have to talk to Jarvis about that. But I was talking about the maps.”

“Hm?” Loki came back from his speculations, suspecting that the anima had gained more than just consciousness when others treated _it_ like a _him_ and gave … _him_ a name. Most curious. It sounded like nominal magic.

“You have a system to index the portals.”

“Several systems, in fact.” Which he would reveal only if it were useful for him.

“It makes me wonder, why someone who appreciates chaos would keep such meticulous order?” Natasha took her eyes from the jet’s control panel to spy Loki’s expression. “The only reasonable answer is: to create more chaos. So what is the real purpose of those maps?”

“Not something I can discuss in the open.” Natasha conveyed the meaning of an unbelieving risen eyebrow with just a silence and a stony face looking at the front. Loki didn’t like her many kind of silences; he preferred an excess of words any day. Even his brother’s boasting was less uncomfortable. “I don’t intend this as a threat, but the survival of your kind and the Nine might depend on my silence.”

Natasha kept looking at the landscape of clouds, but there was an unamused turn of her mouth that meant that the topic was far from dropped or forgotten. It also showed that despite indulging him, she didn’t believe a word.

“You admit you have some method to the maps. Marks.”

“Hm.” Loki conjured one of the maps and squinted, confirming that his marks were nearly imperceptible. How interesting. “Thor has not noticed those yet.”

“Bad luck.” Loki perceived that she had accepted the latent compliment by a small upturn in the corner of the eye he could see. Loki almost breathed relief; he would never make her hostility crumble, but a little ease was good if they were going to face a common enemy. “I’m not Thor.”

“Certainly. I can’t imagine you in a frilly dress.”

“That’s true? No, wait, don’t answer now, later.” Natasha recovered quickly; was Loki making an effort to make her laugh? It didn’t work with her; many others had tried before, but Loki was being social without seeming to expect a particular reaction. He couldn’t make her forget who he was, after all; but he still behaved almost as if he was … friendly.

Natasha needed to consider that _—_ according to Thor _—_ Loki had been working in a team, however reluctantly, for centuries. The Warriors Three and Sif had been a group that needed to work together, banded into one by Thor. Loki had kept the façade of working with them for a long time, fooling everyone, especially Thor; but maybe the sorcerer was not as much a loner as she had previously thought.

She had not considered it, but Loki could be an introvert who clashed with his teammates frontally. It didn’t seem likely, given his grandiloquent speeches during the invasion, but it would explain a lot of things about his behavior. It could also mean that Loki could actually adapt to working with others instead of using teammates for his own purposes; she wanted time to see how to use that idea in her favor. For now: portals.

“I was talking about the maps. Some portals from Earth have a mark like a rune that doesn’t appear in any of the other maps. Why?”

“I marked the portals that lead out of the Nine Realms. Midgard … Earth,” Loki corrected himself to play the part of the learning alien, “has portals that reach beyond any others.”

Natasha only hummed and looked at the conjured map, leaving the jet in auto-pilot.

“Depending on where Thanos is, and how much he has learnt about the Nine, the wisest plan he could conceive would be to use those portals to infiltrate small troops and destabilize the host world, then attack whichever Realm he wants, so the marked portals are dangerous.”

“And the portal with a circle in the Antarctic?”

Loki tried to remember what an Antarctic was until he remembered one of the maps provided by Jarvis. “That is the most tactically sound long-range portal to get a large number of troops through without falling for the same bottleneck trick twice.”

Loki noticed her small nod; he knew that she was learning more than the workings of the portals, but he couldn’t really help it. He could only guide her deductions: saying ‘twice’ would probably lead her to realise that Loki had been aware of the failure that awaited for the Chitauri army, and that he had never intended to win.

“You have not visited it yet, then,” she carried on with the conversation.

“Not as of yet, no. I have no desire to open it if there is a chance of Thanos using it.”

Natasha made a pensive face. “Why does it have a ‘v’ too?”

“It is a fork. Some portals lead to more than one place. I think that one leads to Jotunheim and Alfheim too.” Loki had already shared his maps with people from Jotunheim and Muspelheim; Jarvis already had copies, and he was planning to use and share them during the war, so explaining the correct use to a human who seemed competent enough could only be good for his plans.

When the jet touched ground they were not done talking, but Clint joined them in the hangar with an untroubled welcome. He glared at Loki and the sorcerer didn’t know why; Agent Barton had trusted the Widow completely the last time he had visited Midgard, and he couldn’t see how jealousy was possible. The surprises kept coming when they crossed paths with Thor, who looked annoyed, but cheered up as soon as he saw Walker. He congratulated Walker with a cheeky smile for getting used to the locals so easily before leaving in the opposite direction.

Then they reached the common room, full of people. Tony and Steve filled their visual space before they could even say ‘we are back’. Both were asking what mission they had been to and what their goals had been. Then Steve moved and Loki realized there was someone sitting there who didn’t belong.

Loki’s eyes made a short trip from the full glass in Stark’s hand to the bulbous-looking bottle on the coffee table, to the only possible owner of the bottle, who was waving at him idly and affectionately. Loki walked past Steve and Tony, seizing their glasses and ignoring their protests.

“Hela.” The sorcerer let transpire the rage he was holding, and that had been silently mounting since Natasha had said that she knew of his identity. “What is the meaning of this?”

She made herself more comfortable in the designer armchair she was occupying. “Just some drinks with friends, as you see.”

“You know each other?” Clint asked. “Why am I not surprised?”

“You are well aware that this ale is toxic for humans,” Loki ignored the meaningless question in favor of the main worrying issue. Someone sputtered.

“Don’t fret, only one of the glasses was strong enough to kill a human,” she answered looking at Jane, who seemed to be the sputtering one. The human slowly left her glass on the coffee table.

“You don’t think that I had already had the same idea?” Loki hissed. Hela looked around to signal that they were not alone. Loki was beyond caring. “You won’t kill him.” Loki’s voice was low and dangerous, but still audible to those who had stayed close instead of stepping back.

“Why not? He will be born again, there is no harm done.” Hela pointed carelessly at the pair of humans right behind him, the owners of the two full glasses that Loki carried.

“Are you sure? Can you give your binding word?” Loki left the glasses on the table; a pair of sturdy things that didn’t break with the strength of the blow.

“You are not making progress,” Hela reproached.

“I’m making plenty of progress. I have the maps.” Loki tried to control his voice, but Hela had the ability to break his concentration more than anyone else.

“You call that progress? You call that toy a weapon?” She pointed at the 3-D print of the Gauntlet that Tony was wearing and had probably been showing off. The human held it protectively against his chest, but he didn’t back away. The blond soldier stood between Hela’s pointing finger and Stark. “I won’t stand and wait until Thanos comes to destroy us.”

“I won’t stand and see how you destroy the fleeting alliance that has been built.”

To the humans present, this looked like a proper gods’ fight that could level cities, but nobody was moving, hardly even breathing. What they were doing so far was wondering: where was Thor when he was needed? Why had he been so annoyed with the queen?

“Why protect an alliance built to fail?” said queen stated coldly. “Find the Fire-Bird and you won’t need any alliance.”

“Bringing him back is not a wise choice. Would you sacrifice the Realm’s unity for a mere chance? What would you do if it fails?”

“Every war has sacrifices; you should know this better than most. If you are not strong enough to take the opportunity to win, I will.”

She stood up with her eyes on Tony and the inventor felt a cold sweat on his back. The other superheroes tensed with him and prepared to fight the half-dead woman who had just invited them so politely to share a drink with her. The sorcerer stood in her way, bodily imposing himself between her and the humans, getting very much into her personal space, and stopped her with his presence.

“What if he comes back human again, to stay hidden?” Loki leaned close to her ear. The heroes were worrying a few steps behind; they wouldn’t listen to his furious whispers. “We. Can’t. Know. Hela.” Loki took a calming breath. “I thought about it. Would you risk a newborn in our hands? because it _is_ a possibility.” He looked into her eyes, seeing realization dawn on her. “We need to unblock his memories. As they say here, you can’t turn it off and on again and expect results.”

Hela looked at him for a moment. She killed the silence spell that she had pulled when he started to whisper. Then she proved that she was kin to Loki by rounding her eyes and putting her hands in front of her open mouth. It was shock made flesh and then she looked at Tony.

“I’m terribly sorry! I … I can’t ask for enough forgiveness! I was lead to think … but it is only logical.”

“ _What_ is logical, because I don’t see any damn logic in anything.” Loki turned to look at the group of humans and realized that they had not stayed cowered. Shields, bows, and various weapons that he couldn’t name had appeared in their hands. Stark didn’t have a suit, but some kind of gun had made its way to him too, even though it was lowered now. And he was the first to talk out loud, of course, to compensate for the agonizing minutes of silence that he had had to endure for the duration of Hela and Loki’s disagreement.

“Someone said that you were the Fire-Bird, I thought you were hiding,” the queen said, on the verge of tears. “I thought that I’d make you stop hiding by … killing you.” Loki was sure that his girl was blushing with her lively half. He was both proud and impressed. “You must forgive me. I never considered that you could be mortal. Understand that I’d do anything to spare my people from a war, but I wouldn’t simply kill a friend … I … I thought you’d just come back to life, unharmed.”

Tony gulped. Had it been just him, he would have thrown the woman from his tower at least until he got his heartbeat under control again, but breaking a link with the Queen of the Dead right now was almost suicide on a planetary level. He reached for his public persona before anyone could answer for him and break his reputation, or his ego, or something, like his planet.

“Well, it is the first time that the ‘pretending to drink’ trick saves my life. It had probably already saved my liver some trouble, but my whole life? That one is new.”

“Am I forgiven then?” Hela infused hope and innocence so convincingly that Loki could almost believe her.

“What the hell!” Stark shouted cheerily. “What is an assassination attempt between friends? Furthermore, you are not the only one in the room who has tried to kill me. I’m not even counting murderous thoughts.”

In less than the human reaction time, she was hugging Tony and making him uncomfortable in front of everyone. Loki was fiercely proud when Stark stuttered “apologies accepted,” just to get rid of her embrace. She was regal in public, terrifying most of the time, but she had so many other faces that only she knew what was real and to what degree. “Besides,” Stark said when he eased out of her arms and to some far cabinet with bottles. “Now you need to sample some of Earth’s poisons.”

“How did you know that Tony had something to do with that Phoenix?” Steve asked curious, but also as a means to keep the lady from following his friend.

“I have very good spies.” Loki knew that to be a lie. She didn’t have spies; her world had been too isolated for that, but she had Mimir with her.

“So what you were telling us … ?” Sam asked, sitting back on one of the couches.

“I’m still interested in fighting this war, I merely thought there was a shortcut less bloody,” she said sheepishly.

“Why is a Phoenix a shortcut?” Bruce asked.

While the rest of the group was sitting again in the places they had been using until hell broke loose, Banner was still standing at the back of the room, breathing slowly and looking through a window. Loki had not noticed his presence, but now he was noticing his rumpled hair and his slightly torn shirt. They had been lucky that the doctor could hold on for so long. Answering quickly would probably help to calm him too. “The bird’s mind and Stark’s are very similar. That is one more reason why it connected with the ashes.”

“You hear that, birdbrain?” Stark interrupted. “I have the mind of a bird too! Now I can join Iron Wings and you in your fancy nest!”

“In your dreams, Stark. You don't have aviary approval.” Clint crossed his arms and pouted.

“Yeah, it’s a nest for two anyway,” Sam said in mocking tones.

“As I was saying,” Loki glared. “Their minds are similar, but the bird would be able to build something to defeat Thanos easily.” Loki pointed at the Gauntlet. “That’s what the Gauntlet has the potential to do, Stark, and in the bird’s absence, it’s the reason I put it in your hands. I couldn’t trust anyone else with it.” Loki felt more than saw the disgusted look coming from Natasha at the blatant flattery.

“But the bird _is_ out of our reach,” Hela interrupted. “We are better off worrying about the preparations for the war.”

Loki soon lost himself in details about Hela’s army, but he noticed Stark’s pensive look; looking at him think was enticing. Loki had decided that he preferred it when the genius ranted aloud, just to revel in the way he thought, from brash to delicate in one sentence. But his silence made Loki want to pull words from him and be the one to understand him. If he had held any hope of his infatuation fading away with Stark’s behavior in the morning, he was proven wrong right then.

Stark must have noticed his stare, because he seemed to leave some heavy thoughts for later consideration and he looked right back at Loki, at _Walker,_ with a self-assured smile. Loki smiled back, since to all appearances, the human had moved on and had decided that he held no grudge. Loki was sure that Natasha had said something while he handled Hela (if one wanted to call treating with her _handling_ ).

After that, Stark chimed in the conversation with his own ideas for the defense of Earth and how to arm Hela’s battalion in coordination with humans’ weaponry. Loki also noticed everyone’s acceptance of Walker’s presence, and even his ideas, when he dared to talk. Loki was not fool enough to think that the scene of that morning was forgotten; there were strange looks, but everyone involved was ignoring it. Loki was going to follow their example.

Hela was awfully comfortable among humans, or super-humans; Loki didn’t really see the difference. At her direction, the group stirred the conversation from strictly war-related topics. Loki was a spectator of her ways of extracting information when Thor finally joined them and Hela used the chance to mention heedlessly that Odin was back, thus almost making Loki’s heart die in his chest in the process.

“He is? How is he?” Thor brightened, forgetting that Hela was the reason he had left the reunion in the first place.

“He is back from _where_? He wasn’t in Asgard?” Steve asked Thor.

“He left soon after the end of the meeting. He left some members of the Council in charge and he warned them that he might come back changed.” Hela smiled at how half of the humans in the room were scrunching their faces like they smelt something fowl. She could have cried of laughter at Loki’s well concealed shock. “He told the Council not to trust his judgement after he came back from that mysterious place that could change his mind. And he IS acting very different from the meeting.”

“Then Father came back ill?” Thor asked, putting a hand on Jane’s shoulder. “Will he recover from this?”

“Bullshit!” Clint said from Thor’s right. “Who the hell believes something like that?”

“What do you mean, friend Clint?” Thor tightened his hold on Jane’s shoulder until she made him sit with them.

“I’m not the only one seeing things here right?” A chorus of negative murmurs followed Clint. “Thanks!”

“Hell, I don’t know the guy and it stills sounds bad,” Sam intoned to Hela’s left.

“You are not the only ones.” Hela smirked. “I believe someone in the Council is aware as we are, and they are goading the other members to keep Odin from the throne for as long as possible.” Her smirk turned into a full smile. “By now everyone knows Odin is not the same as during the meeting.” She looked pointedly at Thor, because the blond god didn’t want to believe it, but he was not stupid. He looked away, accepting the obvious, and Hela continued with a little pride boost, “the only doubt is what is going to happen now with everything that was said and done during the meeting.”

“But I must go by my father, he-”

“He has been trying to undo everything that was done,” Hela interrupted Thor before he could get himself and Loki in trouble. She looked at Jane. “He’ll be furious when he finds you.”

“Why has he not found me then?” The woman was calm in the face of an almost hopeless fate against a God, but Hela had seen her endless joy when she was presented something new, and Hela could respect that fierce calm paired with eagerness.

“He is busy. He has to either convince the Council that he is the same as before he left or convince them that it was never him in the first place. Odin wants the head of whoever did this, and names are being uttered.” Hela made a show of looking at everyone and waiting until some whispers were quieted, but she tried to convey for Loki that Odin was already putting all the blame on his not-so-deceased son. “The All-father will send all of his soldiers after the perpetrator, and he is going to try to bring the other Realms to their knees in the same way that it has been for eons. He won’t fight Thanos. He claims that Asgard is strong enough to scare any Titan away.”

“But the Dark Elves, they were supposed to be a laughable race, extinct! and still they decimated the population of Asgard! He can’t ignore this! He can’t do that to our people.” Thor was rattled, but Hela didn’t care for Asgard.

Her face turned very serious for a moment. “He has plans to close the path to my Realm as soon as he gets the throne back. It is only fortunate that I made it impossible when the path was open again, but now is the moment to make a move. Before he regains his power.”

“He’ll leave Asgard undefended?” Thor tried to push his point.

“No, but listen, how can we know that crazypants Odin was telling the truth? What if the Odin of today is right and Thanos doesn’t exist?” Clint brought the skepticism back to the table.

“He exists,” Natasha said unexpectedly. “And my sources confirm that he will come here for revenge and spoils of war.”

“My sources also say that it is probable that he invades these worlds. He is looking for some gems that were last seen here.” Everyone looked at Stark. “What?”

“Okay, I can believe that Natasha has freaky sources. You? Who do _you_ know that we don’t? We were with you in Asgard and I don’t think you’ve met more aliens under a wench while hiding in your lab.” Clint chose the wrong time to keep being skeptical.

“Have you been hiding things from us?” Steve used his upset face.

Tony stopped dead to wonder if Steve realized he was doing it, and how effective it was, before seamlessly half-lying. “I left one night. I kind of borrowed without asking first a space motorbike and met some interesting people.” He was not going to start a fight with Walker again.

“Tony you can’t just do things like that!” Bruce came from the window to sit next to him. Tony knew that Bruce had seen his new aeronautic designs based on the space motorbike and he had been curious about them, so the clear worry in his voice was blended with morbid interest. Tony smiled at the shared feeling.

“It’s done, and it’s proven helpful.”

“But who is this guy who tricked Odin?” Sam pointed out. “What if it is another trick? a third party?”

“Whoever they are, they put their lives at risk to warn the Nine,” Thor mumbled.

“If they wanted to destroy us, they only had to wait,” Natasha added.

“Ok, so we agree that they can’t be all that bad.” Tony flexed the fingers of the Gauntlet, distracted.

“What will this all mean for the battle?” Steve focused back on the main problem.

“Good news.” Hela smiled, going back to her impressive queen attitude for a second.

“Good news? How in the world can it be good news?” Clint started before Natasha elbowed him to let Hela talk.

“All the sorceresses and mages who worked for Odin when he was out of his mind have disappeared.”

“What?” Walker had been paying attention to Tony flexing the fingers of his copied Gauntlet, but he looked up brusquely when the magic users were mentioned.

“They are grouped somewhere. They’ve almost tasted freedom and respect, you thought they would go back to being castaways without a fight?”

“Knowing Odin, I feared he had _made_ them disappear,” Jane said what most of them thought.

“They’ve gone underground. Many races have broken their links with Asgard since Odin returned. Even the common folk are irked. They are angry because Odin is not trying to control the sorceresses who had been working in the reconstruction of Asgard, and they are angry because Odin wants to stop the flourishing commerce that has been going on through the open portals in the last months.”

“This is terrible. Asgard will be unprotected, without even the sorcerers …” Thor would give himself a migraine if he didn’t join the main conversation out of his head soon.

“There have been several reunions behind Odin’s back. Nobody wants to help him, not even the Vanir, but they won’t turn their backs on each other. Pacts have been made excluding Odin; alliances have strengthened.”

“You planned those secret reunions so Odin wouldn't drive the other Realms apart again,” Natasha guessed.

“Could be.” Hela smiled at the assassin, who then asked about those secret reunions.

Loki suspected that she had hidden the mages in her realm too, so he wasn’t sure of why she had said what she had about his alliances. Why disdain something that she was working to protect? As always, her plans left him uneasy.

“They have hope,” she insisted. “People of Muspelheim and Jotunheim have been singing your praises, Thor and Walker. They trust that your maps will bring a union less dependant on Odin’s Bifrost. They want you on Asgard’s throne, Thor, and they believe in your allies. There are groups out there looking for the person who drove Odin crazy, and not all of them have beheading in mind. Some think it was you, Thor, to take the throne before Odin brought the Ragnarok to us.”

“And Thanos?” Bruce said from his place next to Tony.

“They expect to be prepared to defend whichever Realm gets attacked first, with the right portals.” Hela looked, now pointedly for everyone, at Walker.

“If news of this reaches Thanos, the Golden Realm will be the first to fall.” Thor was _still_ worried about Asgard.

“The answer to that is easy, right?” Walker helped Thor to step out of his misery. “Spread the word that Asgard is fortified, the vault empty, the Bifrost still broken, and take the fight elsewhere. Paint your chosen new place an easy target with a big reward. As a future king of Asgard you should remember those kinds of things, Thor,” Walker mocked him lightly.

“Indeed!” Thor brightened up now that someone was paying attention to his worries.

“Do we really have to defend those pansies?” Clint complained.

“Yes, Clint, much as we are loathe to admit it. Asgard has the Bifrost, and we don’t want to know what happens if Thanos gets a hold of it.” Steve was, as usual, the voice of reason.

“But drag the war where?” Sam followed, crossing his arms and directing his question to the aliens.

“Svartalfaheim would be the best place. Less damage.” Thor was only considering the vast empty space of the devastated world that he had seen last. Of course he didn’t know about the hidden refugees that were discussed during the meeting, but the humans who knew didn’t have time to correct him when Hela quickly changed the scene of the war.

“I disagree. It would be impossible to present Svartalfaheim as a desirable target in a short time.”

“Jotunheim?” Thor threw back like a tennis match of three.

Walker raised an eyebrow. “Reconsider. Are you talking about the monsters in your head or the crippled and helpless civilization that we saw?” Walker hummed caustically.

“Oh!” Thor was thoughtful for a moment. “And if we drag it to Muspelheim, we’ll have to keep an eye on the two divided sides internally conflicted.”

“Dwarves are in a defensive position, useless for what we seek.” Hela considered out loud.

“Alfheim would be fine,” Walker suggested dubiously.

“But they have the strange ideas of ownership.” Thor reminded everyone. “They won’t let foreign soldiers in.”

“The other fae would be ok with it, though,” Hela pressed the issue.

“The orbital worlds would want land in exchange, and they are too small, they can’t defend themselves if something goes wrong,” Walker answered lightning-fast.

“You are thinking if the underwater tribes…” Hela followed easily his train of thought as if they were alone in the room.

“… are perfect, but nobody can lure Thanos there, he’d have to be pushed, or tricked, and we don’t have the way to do that,” he explained.

“Then …” Thor seemed to be out of options. Hela coughed and Thor realized he hadn’t even considered her lands. “Well, Helheim would make the perfect trap! Nothing that comes in leaves alive.” Hela coughed harder. “With a few notable exceptions.”

“Can’t be done. _Niflheim,”_ Walker emphasized the name to make Thor notice his slip, “has been excluded from the Nine for a long time for a reason. It is very difficult getting there without a portal. Thanos wouldn’t send an army there, too much effort.”

“Can we create an easy passage?” Hela asked. She was not interested in dragging any unnecessary battles into her lands, but it would be good for her Realm if she could create easier accesses to it.

Walker shook his head ruefully.

“Then, right now, portals in Niflheim are weak and small, not to mention uncomfortable. If Thanos’ army ever reached us, it would be a bloodshed. We can’t beat Thanos alone, help wouldn’t come easily, and a hasty escape would be impossible.”

“But it would save the other Eight.” Thor said tactlessly. Everybody loved Thor, really, But sometimes he was too brash even for the likes of Clint and Tony. So the humans were tempted to run for cover when the queen of the proposed-for-martyr realm reacted exactly as expected.

“Do send Thanos my way, _Uncle Thor_ , just give me an excuse, I’ve been _dying_ to raze Asgard.” She had a maniac smile that nobody had expected to see in her face.

“I’m no kin of yours,” Thor said sharply, as if remembering again why he didn’t like her.

“I guess not.” There was anger in her voice and an angelic smile on her lips. “But for that suggestion I’ll keep calling you Uncle for as long as it annoys you. Or do you prefer Aunt?”

“Don’t,” Thor growled.

“Aunt it is.” She made a final decision.

Bruce seemed to remember Yggdrasilian geography in that moment. “Are you two saying what I think I’m hearing?”

Clint was close behind and furious. “You are suggesting Earth! you bunch of stuck-up Asgardians!”

“It is the most logical choice,” Hela said sadly.

“No it is not! People are going to die here! Why is it fine if humans die, but not if Niflheimers do?” Steve protested.

“Earth has escapeways and easy access to support that we don’t have,” Hela said, infusing some warmth and certain paternalistic tone that Steve didn’t like one bit.

“You have a better chance at doing some damage on your own,” Walker contributed. “More portals, more inhabitants, more superheroes … ”

“Also, there are already rumors about Niflheim,” Hela tried another angle. “We are powerful; we have no valuable resources; we are the land of the Dead.”

Walker picked up her idea and followed through. “Nobody would try to overthrow Hela, much less someone who courts Death. It has to be Earth.”

Loki could almost feel the weight of their collective hate settling slowly on his skin

“You have a plan, I see.” Thor had been quiet, and Thor being loud was almost as bad as Thor being quiet. Either usually meant that Loki was in trouble.

“Why would you say that?” Loki said defensively.

“I’m familiar with the way you think. I’ve seen you avoid fights like the plague, it is possible that this quest with you is the one with the least number of fights in my life. And you like the Nine, you have complained about time to recover countless times. You wouldn’t suggest frontal combat. I’m sure you have a better plan, I’m sure you … ”

A timely bloodstone-connection intended for Hela cut short their conversation, making Loki contain a relieved sigh.

In the middle of the modern-looking room grew a …  a rosebush-creature? without really breaking the floor; it swiftly sprouted several black and petal-like lips, and the Queen didn’t bother to introduce her courier. They said some unintelligible, gruff words that most of those present didn’t understand. Hela explained that she couldn’t stay, because she was trying to ready Ekimmus for battle and there had been a problem, and Bruce surprised everyone by knowing what an Ekimmu was.

Hela showed some interest in his knowledge because, apparently, it meant that there were portals to Earth that she had never seen. She promised to find and open the portals from her side, and she said she would to visit again very soon or send messengers with updates. Then she used the bloodstone-connection and she disappeared with her visitant.

After that, everyone was equal parts uncomfortable and relieved. Nobody was up to any more discussions about Earth becoming a battleground, especially because the next day there was going to be a very long discussion about that very same topic already. Sam got up and stretched; Steve, Jane and Clint went to harmlessly re-rack the weapons, and the rest of the group wanted food. Loki was inclined to join that last group, but Stark’s animated voice deprived him of the choice.

“Walker, you put that Gauntlet within my reach and you are going to help with it before it drives me insane.” He pointed at Walker. “You just wait here.” He ran off to the kitchen.

“What did you tell him?” Loki asked Natasha to make sure that they didn’t mix their lies.

“Not much yet. But it looks like shouting at the Queen of the Dead for trying to kill him will do wonders to your reputation.” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Not knowing that she’s your daughter probably helps.”

“She’s _not_ …” he bristled.

Stark called him again and Loki missed the opportunity to deny the relationship further. The inventor pulled Loki’s elbow with the hand that wasn’t occupied with a takeaway container and dragged him back to his workshop. Stark still found time to rant in the short way there.

“I’ve played a very simplistic simulation, well, simplistic for me, NASA is still years behind stuff like this, and I thought I had broken something when I saw it crash, because my tech doesn’t just crash, you know? it just doesn’t, my coding is perfect, my hardware is perfect.” The elevator took them to the workshop and the hydraulic door opened like the last time. “The energy gets out of any chart that I try to make. The power with the six pieces that are now missing must have been impressive. I can’t make a simulation of what it would do with only one of the pieces, like you wanted; not yet, but I have put the ‘spells’ in different categories.”

Stark handed him the real Gauntlet, left his copy on a workbench, and brought to life his holograms with the notes he had already taken. “Name them.”

Loki didn’t like the imperative tone, but Stark sounded like that when he talked to his machines too. The human probably didn’t know how to order real humans around; bend their wills and likes, sure, but an order sounded strange from his mouth. Stark was acting unnaturally, so Loki concentrated on the magic; much easier to understand. “This is Odin’s magic, he calls it the Odinforce.” Loki heard a snort; as if the owner of a tower with his name scarring the night could judge. “Protections and restrictions, charms to deflect attention, preemptive reactions to certain actions …”

Walker made Tony hold the Gauntlet, then did something that resembled a Cat’s Cradle and the magic-things that reminded him of chains without actually looking like chains moved rapidly, becoming more easy to see- through but not disappearing.

“Oh! You meant the golden-tasting things.” Tony called Dum-E with a whistle to make him hold the Gauntlet while he made changes in his holo-notes to reflect Walker’s modifications. The task required a bit of imagery, because there was not a word in any human language that he knew to describe what he was doing.

Tony was very glad of having decided to keep Walker. Natasha had been in a good mood when she came back from her mission (and it was not a regular mission-went-well good mood, it was the all-the-Avengers-are-doing-exactly-what-I-wanted-and-they-don’t-even-know good mood. Ok, Tony needed a shorter name, but it was true). Her good mood meant that Walker would be a good player.

So, if the Black Widow could use the magic tourist and get away with it without a scratch, Tony was sure that he could pull it off too. No attachments; it would be a clean business, like casual sex, wait, bad example; a clean business like when Stark Industries had to deal with Switzerland.

Maybe that was more Pepper’s territory, but Tony could do it, he could work without liking someone. He had worked with lots of first-class idiots without a complaint …  without too many complaints. And he had employees whose names he had never heard. In fact he didn’t know the names of half of the board of directors. He could work with someone and not care, of course he could.

Then the magic-expert twirled something else in the Gauntlet and Tony was immediately captivated again. See? Concentration, that was good.

“This one is mine. Concealment,” Walker explained. Then a move of his fingers resembled expanding an image in a touchpad, but it made the energy … bounce, and Tony felt a note going high like tuning a string. “And these too. Mine. To keep Odin’s magic from working.”

Tony cleaned his ears with his little fingers to get rid of the tingling feeling of watching things with his ears. Then he addressed Walker again, “Pair them.”

“What?” Walker looked at him in confusion.

“Pair Odin’s magics and the ones you are using to counteract them.” Orders. Orders without funnies; Tony was good at that professional, disciplined, and detached work, he could do it.

Walker pointed silently and the energy didn’t move, but for a moment Tony had the feeling of … satisfaction; like when the peg fits the hole. “Cool, keep going.”

“Legend has it that the Celestials commissioned this piece, so I’m not surprised that there is Celestial magic on it.” Walker pointed at another one. “But this is barely an old mark of a name, so I wouldn’t trust those rumors.”

“Cool, so far, all of it is superficial magic. Right?” Tony directed Dum-E to turn the Gauntlet. “Unimportant, let’s strip down this baby. The rest is essential to the workings of this thing, right?”

Walker nodded distractedly while moving the finger of the gauntlet and seeing the magic react. Dum-E even turned the gauntlet to let Walker see better without prompting, the traitor.

“Where do they come from? Because I’ve seen you classify magic by species.” Tony was nailing the whole _serious work_ thing.

“Dwarven and Fae mainly, but some parts are intertwined, like this.” Walker swung to a position where both of them could see clearly. “And others I don’t recognize.”

“Marvelous. Now let’s go back to the next part that I understand. Not that I don’t understand the rest, of course. Jarvis, mechanical schematics up.” Tony stepped away from Walker to make grand gestures and enlarged the part of the image that only comprised his 3-D print.

“There must be a power source, some kind of convertor.” Tony pointed at the six gaps. “The stones you mentioned, probably. Also, there need to be movement sensors, related to magic, because I’ve seen these thingies that look like half of a hydraulic system miniaturized.” Tony was aware that he was speeding up his explanation, but it was interesting. “Not sure about neurosensors; could be a different part, but it could be a mix too, I’m not sure if magic can substitute a chip or this thing works more like a primary engine.”

Tony was also making huge logic jumps that would leave most people baffled. He looked at their feet and picked a random motherboard, then he tossed it at Walker. “What do you make of it?”

Walker turned it in his hands several times before letting go a very small glint of magic. “Not much. It is incomplete. I see that there should be more parts here.” He pointed at the connectors for peripherals. “Although I think these others are more important if the reading is correct.” He pointed at the memory slots. “This stores energy.” He pointed at the battery for the BIOS. “This makes energy flow slow … ”

Tony was quickly bored by things he already knew; there had to be a better way to recreate the experience. He went to the drawers and found one of the latest cores that he SI had developed a month back; if that didn’t work, Tony had made a small miscalculation in the partial interchangeability of magic and electricity, and that wouldn’t do. “How about that?” Tony threw the core prototype to Walker.

Walker sent the same spark to the much smaller chip and his hands shook as if an electric current had gone through him. Tony saw the green magic ricochet around the chip stridently as if it was bound to the piece of technology, but violently rejected at the same time. The core shook in his hands, floating at least two inches over Walker’s hands until the energy run out a minute later.

“Bingo! We have something!” Tony grinned wildly, fists in the air. He felt emotionally connected to that tiny core, the excitement could make him float any moment now. “You know what the hell that is? because I don’t. Isn’t it great?”

Walker was displaying a lot of confused faces lately, like the one right then. Not that it was a bad look on him, but for an advanced race, Tony thought that he should be less confused. “Then why do you sound so happy about it?”

Oh. He was confused for _him._ And more ‘oh’, because Tony was supposed to sound detached instead of happy, right? Well, he was happy because of the discovery, Walker had nothing to do with it, so it was still within safe parameters. “A few hours ago, I electrified the Gauntlet. I didn’t expect any reaction, but I noticed something strange in this piece here.”

Tony picked a screwdriver to point at a small part lodged between two plaques in the inner part of the physical Gauntlet, not the hologram. “I thought it was a boring rectangular whatever, but look.” He picked two pairs of small tweezers connected to a red wire and a blue one. Then Tony touched the piece and electricity started to behave as magic had done with the microchip, but much quicker and gyrating in tighter arcs, the anomaly here died as soon as Tony took the tweezers away.

Then Loki’s eyes followed the genius as he pulled a series of lens mounted on a metal support and put it in front of the Gauntlet. After Stark turned the dials, Loki actually gasped. Magic hadn’t been able to surprise him in the last thousand years, but there it was.

“I call it micromagic, unless you have a better term.” The human sounded smug, but Loki knew that he was smug for the wrong reasons. Everyone knew about complex spells made of smaller motley spells. This was different, this was _more_.

“I read about this in ancient books, but this … this must be less than one thaum. These are parts of different kinds of magic soldered together. This should be impossible.”

“See that part there, connected to the metal. I think there are spells to conduct energy, to repel energy and to isolate energy, it made me think of integrated circuits.” Stark was proud of finding parallels with human technology; let him, Loki was more interested in what kind of power would be required to split parts of a thaum and force them together. “It is thinner than our current microchips, though. Our chips now face the problem of being smaller but avoiding that the electrons tunnel through the barriers. I don’t know if it is the micromagic isolating this, or if magic doesn’t work like electrons, despite how similar their behavior is.” Stark kept drawing parallels between sciences.

“Thaums.” Loki made a move like cleaning a board and repeated the syllable. “They are called thaums. Use the right term, I know the mage you met in Asgard must have mentioned it.” Loki realized how patronizing it sounded and how much he had hated that tone when he was learning magic. Loki made something to distract Stark from the tone and make him keep working.

The image of the Gauntlet appeared much bigger than the original next to the projection of the 3-D model; it had as much definition as Tony’s digital microscopes, but it showed the magic-things ( _thaum_ conglomerations? _thaum_ glomerations? lumps of _thaums_?) that Tony’s machines weren’t able to record, no matter what he did. Walker marveled and murmured some more, but soon Tony grew bored.

Tony had been the one to realize what it was, and the sorcerer was just admiring some ancient magic chip. Tony wasn’t only bored, he was annoyed, so he proceeded to his next deduction to take Walker’s attention from _his_ discovery.

“Also, the pieces missing seem to be less vital than they look, but I think there is some kind of spell that stops the thing from working without all of them. Do that amplifying thing here.” Walker actually moved his spell to the point where Tony wanted. “This is the troublemaker.” Tony would have given it a name like The Black Wire if it had been a wire. It gave off an eerie feeling the way magic gave eerie feelings, but this one was particularly chill-inducing.

“That’s it? All we need to do is block that spell?” Walker starred avidly at the pointed part and then looked at Tony as if he held the answers to all that was and would be. God, Tony wanted nothing more than to be able to keep that look on his face. Unfortunately, it was not the case.

“Well, no. That is only the piece that stopped any further reaction to electricity. It could be a failsafe, it could be a grounding wire, it could be a trap, and I don’t really want to blow something up without knowing what kind of damage to expect. Could I open a black hole, for example?”

“ … ” Walker’s silence wasn’t very eloquent.

“By accident! Not on purpose, of course.” Tony tried to explain before he got in trouble.

“ … ” Walker stayed silent, Tony read it as bafflement as his awesomeness and preened every time Walker looked between the Gauntlet and him. Well, not _preen_ because that was undignified, even for Tony.

“You should help me to build something like a voltmeter, but for magic, and I will need you as a source of magic. Then we will need a … I guess it is a spell?, to isolate the other five huh … plug-ins from the one you said you have.”

“ … ” Tony waited for some kind of reaction, but Walker was not forthcoming.

“And then we should find how it is powered and how to regulate the energy that enters. You called it taums? Toms?”

“Thaums.” Oh, look, he talked. And listened.

“That. Calculate how many of that we need so we don’t fry the museum piece here, thaums seem to be more powerful than electrons according to our little experiment here. We will have to power each of the parts to see what each of them do and what we need to change.”

“ … ” Walker breathed slowly; Tony was starting to get nervous.

“It can be done, right?” Tony said it flippantly, but maybe he had said something terribly wrong and it couldn’t be done, and if it was so, that asshole of a sorcerer should say something and stop him before Tony started to really panic.

“I’m not sure. I’m not familiar with this magic.” Walker finally answered.

“But the Dwarves would know more about this? And the Elves?” Tony tried to think of ways to get what he needed, what he _wanted._ He refused to get stuck just because it was weird alien technology.

“It is ancient magic; the knowledge could be lost.” Despite his partial negative, he sounded pensive.

“But there _is_ a chance,” Tony pressed the point. He wanted Walker to see the bright side and Tony was not sure of why, but the magic guy needed to see that there were things to do.

“There is always a chance, I guess.” Walker admitted with a sigh and a surprised half-smile.

Tony nodded, absolutely full of himself at having changed Walker’ mind so easily. “Sooo, next time you see Hela, tell her from me that there is progress.”

“There … there IS progress!” Walker laughed a boyish laugh.

Norns only knew if it would be enough, but to Loki’s utter amazement, there was progress.

 


	14. Bringing Him Back

After several hours of discussing how to further the progress that Tony had made with the Gauntlet, the workshop had several new copies of it, some of which Walker had enchanted for him with simple spells. By the time Bruce came to inform them that they needed to sleep, there was a water tank with the object of study inside. Tony proceeded to tell his labmate about how magic appeared to have no weight, but it displaced water. Bruce wanted the demonstration firsthand, and Walker didn’t oppose showing Bruce what they had found out.

And that is how someone intelligent (Tony suspected either Steve or Natasha) sent Thor to fetch them, three quarters of hour later. The God of Thunder was very interested and he wanted to include Jane the following morning, but it was a passive interest, opposed to their active mindset. In Tony’s language, Thor spoiled the mood and they conceded that going to bed was probably a good idea, since the next day was the wretched super-meeting.

Tony couldn’t care less about it, but Thor had taken Walker with him, and the mood, so Tony slept.

Meanwhile, Loki was pacing his room back and forth a few floors below Tony and a few rooms over from Thor. The news about the Gauntlet had made him forget his annoyance at Hela, but now that he was alone again, the impact of the rest of the day had hit him in full force. What troubled him the most was that Thor had decided to be watchful in public for once.

Of course Loki had plans for the war that involved leaving most of the realms intact. He had been a prince for centuries; he didn’t put armies at risk needlessly, but his plan also involved keeping said armies in the dark. There was no way that anyone would approve of the plans of a newcomer who had popped out of nowhere a few weeks before. Loki knew the limits of his Walker disguise. He could manipulate a few key pieces, but Walker couldn’t convince a room full of humans to trust him with the lives of their whole population.

Embarrassingly enough, Loki was too worried to notice that he had been ranting aloud; he was also too far into his own rerouting of plans to remember that he was not exactly alone. So when the polite “May I be of service?” sounded in his room, Loki was actually startled.

“Jarvis, right?” Loki regained his composure and tried to remember just for how long he had been talking aloud. “Don’t mind my nonsense, I was just thinking to myself.”

“I’m quite experienced in the matter of nonsense that has more meaning than it appears to have, so let me doubt it was ‘just’ anything, your _Highness_.” Under the polite charade Loki noticed the same mocking tone in Jarvis’ words as the one his creator showed frequently; the title came as a reminder, not a courtesy.

“I meant to speak to you anyway. But first, let me know why you decided to reveal yourself?” Loki crossed his arms.

“I surmise your restless state comes from the clash of your own aims and the plans that will be set in motion tomorrow, and from your brother’s probable disruption of both.”

Loki realized in that moment that he had talked too much for himself, he wasn’t that careless usually.

“That is my predicament, indeed.” Loki sat on a chair, he didn’t want to look weak by using the bed, trite as it sounded.

“Then I’ll take the liberty to point out that Agent Romanoff would be very interested in this situation.”

“How?”

“In my experience, the Avengers, either one by one or as a team, are not very prone to sharing their plans because of personal reasons, often involving a betrayal of some kind. However, experience also shows that their rate of success increments when they have at least one person on which to rely.”

“That is informative, but irrelevant, Jarvis.” Loki decided to use the anima’s name, since everyone else did it.

“In other words, she could help.” Loki gave it some thought while Jarvis kept talking. “Exposing your whole plans to all the heroes and convincing them to do something morally reprovable would take time. The Widow is more approachable in that field; she would help to present it as a respectable alternative.” Loki thought that it would also be an adequate payback from the mission of the previous day, and she already had some idea about strategy and combat. Furthermore, she had diplomatic experience with human leaders. But it would need to be done with caution; if the anima knew that the Widow was of a twisted mind, others would suspect, too. They would need to work as Loki always did, from the shadows.

Loki would think about it, but for now he had more questions.

“Jarvis. I’m now aware that you lead me to Stark’s workshop and opened the door for me. I would have the reason.”

“In my defense, _your highness_ , I must say I wasn’t aware of your identity until later. At the time I was limited; Sir was destroying his work and his teammates had given up. When someone who Sir had added to the database as a friend entered the tower and appeared willing to help, the least I could do was guide Walker where he already wanted to go.”

“When did you realize Walker was a disguise? And why didn’t you alert anyone of my presence?” Loki was mesmerized. If this was an anima, it was a very complex one.

“Sir had been in the situation you found him in for days. There were no outer signs that he was going to stop; precedent shows that Sir could have become worse in a short time if nothing was done to change the course of his actions; no other had realized that it was a critical situation. I noticed who you were two minutes after you entered the workshop, but you provided change, so I didn’t interrupt the interaction. The decision proved to be the right one, so I postponed revealing your identity, but did not conceal it when Agent Romanoff inquired.” Loki took a ponderous moment to think about it. “Will that be all, _your highness_?” the machine asked.

“No.” Loki cringed at the title. “Call me Walker. I’ve had enough people finding me out as it is,” Loki ordered before stating his real question. “You have shared with the Spider the maps that we worked on and helped her to threaten me. I consider that a betrayal of my trust.” The anima didn’t answer, and Loki didn’t like not having a face to read. “But you also hid my identity from everyone else when there was no need.”

“And what would that mean?” Jarvis seemed to follow a normal human way of thinking.

“You are strange. Animation is ruled by simple emotions or functions; animas are simple, usually built around their purpose. I guess yours was originally Stark’s protection?” Loki guessed.

“Assistance,” the anima clarified.

“Oh, careful distinction I see, assisting your creator.” And it was true, Loki did understand that _assistance_ left room for growth where _protection_ limited the anima too much.

“We seem to have that in common of late.”

Loki frowned, but realized that Jarvis must have been in the room when Hela tried to poison Stark a few hours ago.

“But you overpassed that basic order. I don’t know if you were created with such care that you were naturally supposed to grow out of your limits, or if it is a lucky mistake of which you have taken advantage masterfully.”

“Is that a question or should I just take it as a compliment?”

“I’m not interested in animation at the moment, so you may take it as a compliment. If being human can be taken as a compliment.” Loki smiled somewhat cheekily.

“I’m not human, much like you are not. According to Ms. Pepper’s investigation and my own, though I am not a member of humankind, I do possess personhood as described by the latest Roafoil.”

“Congratulations on your personhood, then,” Loki said almost sincerely. “For what’s worth, I’m glad Stark has somebody like you to _assist_ him.”

Loki didn’t sleep much that night, not now that he had someone to talk to. The Widow was much too cautious for casual conversation. Jarvis was more open to different topics and less prone to use it against him. His bias was singular and known: Anthony Stark.  Despite his voice and his extensive knowledge in all matters of Midgard, Loki had the feeling that he was talking to someone much younger than the Widow. And maybe Jarvis didn’t talk casually to many people either, since talking to thin air was quite uncomfortable for most.

The conversation veered to what they thought about the immediate future, but also if Jarvis could feel betrayal and give trust, what was the connection between Stark and his creation, how much control Stark had over him, which was surprisingly little... Jarvis didn’t seem to consider hiding Loki’s identity a treason to Stark.

Barely four hours after their conversation came to an end, there were knocks on Loki’s door, but those seemed to be merely a formality, because the door opened without waiting for a response. It was Stark who barged into his room, Gauntlet already in hand, and asking if the energy that he found in the palm was some kind of return point and the energy unused recycled itself, because it would make sense.

To Loki, nothing made sense yet; he shouldn’t have stayed up talking to Jarvis. Since he couldn’t change that now, he suggested to the inventor that they needed cold air to wake up. Both men left the room and the bed undone; the sun wasn’t even up yet.

Hours later and at a respectable time, Pepper was in the tower to wake Tony up. She knew that the Supers-meeting was important, so of course she had secured herself a place there as CEO of Stark Industries, and she wouldn’t let Tony be late to this one. She went through the common room and she found that two of the Avengers were already up, so she decided that Tony could sleep two more minutes while she greeted them.

Thor went for the same bear hug he usually did, and Natasha sent her a curt nod before looking back at the terrace. Pepper saw that there were two people outside, but in that moment Sam —  Falcon — came through the door, boasting that he had won, while Steve came right behind, also boasting because _he_ had won, because making serum adjustments to the results was cheating.

Both of them greeted Pepper, and Sam left to take a shower. Steve squinted at the terrace.

“Is that Tony? awake?”

Pepper turned to the figures on the terrace again to confirm that it was, in fact, Tony making animated gestures next to Walker-the-sorcerer.

“Sir says that he will shortly repurpose the bedrooms in the Tower, since nobody seems to be using them anyway. I think he is adjusting to the lack of bedrooms already.” Pepper saw Natasha hide a smirk behind her cup of coffee, where she was sitting on the counter of the living room.

Pepper sat down on the couch with Thor and Steve. After all, she had time; she had come early because she knew how difficult Tony could be. Thor was looking outside with a cheerful but melancholic look, Steve was drying off, and she was out of her element.

“Friend, I do not comprehend,” Thor said to Steve. “I have been wistfully seeing things of my brother everywhere. I saw it in my father, but I’ve seen it especially in Walker.” Thor looked back outside, where the sorcerer was making a webbed hand with magic that reminded Pepper of the plaster casts that the medic division was working on. “It is not fair for the man to bear the brunt of my mourning,” Thor continued; “he is a good friend, not a mere substitute, and definitely not my brother.”

Steve looked at Thor sympathetically, then his look went to the door through which Sam had left. “Yes, I’ve been told it’s is called projecting, it happens, it is normal, don’t be too hard on yourself.” The super soldier clapped the god’s shoulder and left to get dressed for the meeting, too.

Natasha made a move to look at Steve leaving and Pepper wasn’t sure if the woman was suspicious of something or if she was checking him out. She didn’t have the time to decide either, because Bruce came in with a cup of tea and he didn’t even say good morning before he approached the doors to the terrace complaining.

“I told them I wanted to be there when they discussed it!”

“What?” Thor asked as if coming out of some daydream.

“Walker must be explaining the working of the portals, why would they be right where the Chitauri portal opened if not to explain it?”

“Don’t worry, Doctor Banner,” Jarvis called from the ceiling. “They are discussing magic, not portals, they have been waiting at sir’s request for Dr. Jane, Colonel Rhodes and yourself. They have extended the invitation to Ms. Romanoff too, if she wants, since you all were working on Jane’s Einstein-Rosen Bridge Project.”

“Then what are they talking about?” Pepper asked.

“Difficult to recount. The topics have varied from the energy of the Ginnungagap, to strange readings in Antarctica, to common acquaintances such as The Dragon Lady.”

“Well,” Pepper looked at her watch. “Their little chat must end now. The meeting is in twenty minutes and I need to speak with Tony before that.”

The sorcerer and the inventor turned to the people inside when Jarvis called them through the speaker outside. Watching them walk together, Pepper wondered how Tony could stand the guy; Tony hated magic viscerally and very vocally, even that Doctor Strange who seemed to be Tony’s counterpart in human magic. She couldn’t fathom why this one was different.

However, he seemed to have woken Tony up early and saved her the trouble, so she was not going to complain right away.

Tony … Tony had been strange with her since their break up. He could keep a professional look, and he could keep the charming face, but he couldn’t fool her. They were slowly getting somewhere normal again, though, and when they had gone through the aeronautics division last week, he joked like before and he was more comfortable than in the preceding twelve months. Pepper didn’t want to lose Tony as a friend; he was a nightmare to deal with, but he had many other fantastic qualities; she hadn’t fallen in love with him because of a sudden impulse.

In consequence, she was happy to see her friend dancing through the meeting room, setting everything up just before it started, because he was the communications specialist and the screens had to light up without a glitch or they would be thrown out of the window. Pepper knew that he was perfectly capable of giving away a new screen just because it had a faulty pixel.

The screens lit up in time, and Pepper recognized some faces from dealings with the Avengers or from TV reports. On the first screen she could see two of the Fantastic Four, for example, and the ones on the screen on the left were mutants. She thought the man on the right was the King of Wakanda; Stark Industries had done business with him regarding graphene. She didn’t know the faces on the rest of the screens.

Pepper was prepared. In fact, Pepper didn’t go anywhere without being prepared. She had researched the other attendants, and there was a file in her pad with everyone’s extensive profiles. From the corner of her eye she saw that Tony was already half gone to disinterested-land; Rhodes sat next to him to prevent just that, so the following elbow to Tony’s ribs was not unexpected.

Avoiding boredom was difficult,truth be told; everyone was trying to introduce themselves and talking over each other. Pepper surveyed the room to wait until someone inevitably took control of the conversation.

Beside the Avengers and Rhodes, Jane was there with a Selvig much saner than she had ever seen, but also almost perpetually silent, and Darcy, playing something on her phone. Sam-Falcon was sitting with Steve, Walker-the-Sorcerer was with Thor, and Kate-Hawkeye was sitting next to Clint. No surprises on that side.

Then there was the strange creature with ligneous appearance, vaguely human shaped and covered in a silvery cloth that hid the neck and front, but left bare the black back, with bright red and yellow spots that reminded Pepper of some tropical frogs; they had come in name of the Queen Hela without much notice in advance. There was also someone called Janet van Dyne who had been the main reason the Avengers existed at all, and for some reason nobody had bothered telling _that_ to Pepper, letting her think that Fury had done all the work.

And behind the bulk of Thor she could see Maria, who had come with someone called Melinda May in representation of SHIELD. The plan had been for more agents to be present , but they had been left out at the last minute without a mention as to why.

Then there were the screens that Pepper didn’t know. One of them had an eerie blue background that didn’t look like Earth; there were two people in that one: a well-built man dressed in black with white stripes like zigzagging suspenders, and a woman, also well-built, whose hair didn’t obey natural physics; at least Pepper’s hair only did what hers was doing when underwater.

In another screen there was a city background. The woman in that screen hadn’t bothered to find a better place to speak; she seemed to be speaking from her apartment. She had a blond crest, sharp cheekbones, and looked like an actress that Pepper couldn’t remember. She wasn’t wearing any distinctive suit, but she had a NASA coffee mug and she had addressed Rhodes a polite hello, so she could be that famous Carol that Rhodes had mentioned.

There were two screens with people with Asian features, but Pepper didn’t know who was who, because their respective interpreters were with them. The other screens were even more difficult to identify without checking her cheatsheet, but she recognized the flags from Peru, Nigeria and Indonesia.

Finally, using a moment when the conversation was falling, Steve commandeered the ruckus. He stepped up as a debate referee, giving the cue to each of those present to make real introductions that would be heard by everyone, so Pepper didn’t have to use her cheatsheet.

The Fantastic Four explained that they had needed to come without the Human Torch and the Thing because apparently Doom had made friends and was being as destructive as he could be.

Maria said what everybody knew: Natasha’s leak had been a high price to pay. Villains were using the files as a contacts list to find allies and fight harder and better.

“SHIELD doesn’t have the resources or the personnel to deal with that anymore, we are still fighting Hydra,” Melinda said shortly.

“So your new boss won’t take responsibility of what your organization did,” Jane said from her spot next to Thor. She was still bitter about her stolen investigation and forced contract.

“We have no responsibility over any of it; we are the ones who were used and discarded.” Melinda was playing the victim, and nobody seemed to be falling for it.

“We came to deal with bigger problems than some intraplanetary conflict,” the white-haired woman from the mutant’s screen drew the attention of the fighters.

“We can’t fight space-ships when we have Hydra still plotting and probably stronger than ever,” Melinda tried to defend her cause.

“Yes! Ask the aliens to wait in an orderly queue until Hydra is disposed of!” Clint threw back.

“That is why SHIELD needs help now. To finish off this threat before it adds to the intergalactic problem.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Nobody seemed to want to help SHIELD and it was not surprising. The feeling of having been betrayed was strong with these, but with their histories it was expected.

Janet van Dyne was the first to break. “You have inconvenienced everyone in this room at some point. SHIELD never was very good making friends, was it? and to me? You erased me from existence. My files, my identity, my work, and you stole my ideas when I became inconvenient. If you want my help, you’ll be begging until your knees bleed.”

“Kinky,” sounded from everyone-knew-where, not managing to defuse anything.

Melinda May stood up and mentioned that SHIELD would want to be notified of developments, even if they couldn’t rely on them for help or participate actively in their war. The answer was that SHIELD hadn’t earned that privilege, in less polite words. Then the woman took her leave and some tension left with her.

“I miss Agent,” Tony said out loud, followed by some affirmative murmurs from the crowd. “Jarvis, jam whatever she left behind.”

“Done, sir.” Jarvis said immediately.

Natasha stood up, crouched next to Melinda’s empty chair and took a very small  listening device that Thor fried without prompting.

“Sir, there is someone to see Thor and Walker; it seems to be important,” Jarvis announced.

“How important?”

“He came through a portal from Jotunheim, Sir.”

Tony confirmed it with Steve in just a nod. “Let him in, this might be interesting for all of us.”

Through the door that Melinda had just used, came what Pepper could only describe as a Yeti. A Yeti with a lot of ponytails and drenched in sweat, but still distinctively a Yeti. Pepper could feel the excitement of the scientists in the room, Bruce being the most obvious about it. Walker and Thor stood up to welcome him. The Yeti seemed more interested in Walker, and the sorcerer was the one to make the presentation.

“This is Migou, head of the courageous scouts of Jotunheim.”

Migou made a gesture with a hand and a half-bow, it looked like a strange reverence. “Pleased to meet you.” His voice was cultured and very deep.

Pepper saw Tony messing with something on his phone for a second and the temperature of the room descended several degrees very quickly, not enough to make humans very uncomfortable, but some reached for their jackets. Then he went back to looking uninterested.

“Why did you come so hastily?” Thor asked.

“There have been several changes in our maps. There is something going on.”

Jarvis projected holograms of the maps on the table before he was asked to. Migou didn’t waste time and pointed the problematic portals. Walker moved the holographic maps with surprising ease for someone new to holograms, to find the other end of the portals.

“Midgard,” he whispered. Jarvis superimposed a regular map so the rest of the group could understand better. “It is my fault; I have been opening the clogged ways.” He pointed at several places where the humans roughly placed some of the highest mountains and coldest locations in the world. “Some ways have opened on their own when I weakened the structure of the spell, but this …” Walker pointed at the south of the map and looked subtly and uncertainly at Natasha. Not Thor, who had been his companion for months and his prince for centuries, but at Natasha.

Pepper knew that there was something going on there, because Natasha murmured “Antarctica” with a blank face. Then a new map appeared over the ones already on display. It had red points nearly in every country.

“If I may interrupt,” Jarvis said surprising everyone. “There is a coincidence of recent acquisition with those exact coordinates. It seems to be a Hydra base of operations.”

Pepper saw Tony frown as he reached the same conclusion as her. Jarvis had hacked SHIELD without anyone’s permission or say-so. Pepper would have to talk with that AI. She couldn’t look into giving him a legal status and nationality while he went around breaking the law.

“Will this be a problem?” Sue Storm said from her screen.

“Not just yet. It might become one, but for now they don’t have the Tesseract, so they can’t open the portal.”

“Then I hate to play the devil’s advocate, but that SHIELD woman was right. Villains are banding together, so we need to do something. That leak has also put many heroes in danger.”

Meanwhile Thor and Walker thanked Migou and offered him a seat at the table.   

“Like who?” T’challa asked from a close screen.

“Like the spider-boy,” Kate-Hawkeye said unexpectedly. “Parker, a friend. His identity was in those files, because he was considered to be an Avenger. Now he is too busy trying to protect his family to do any heroics.”

“So this is serious.” Steve settled it. “We need this solved before we discuss that war. What can we do?”

“Hide in a farm until people forget about us? Who’s with me?” Clint raised a hand, but he was the only one. “Then I’ll have to bring Lucky to the tower and you can’t stop me.”

“Natasha,” Steve said, ignoring the archer, “you had plans to disappear.”

“Not anymore. There has been a development, but I can’t undo the leak, and I wouldn’t if it were in my hand,” Natasha stated certainly.

“So, no ideas?” Steve looked around.

Pepper didn’t let any time pass between the question and her standing up. “I do. Infoxication, I’ve been doing it with Stark Industries.”

“What are you going to do, call a press conference? Nobody is going to believe it.” Sam sat back, dismissive, making himself comfortable.

“I like the sound of that,” Clint leaned forward, being the one ignoring for once. “What does it mean?”

Pepper smiled her directors’ board smile and embarked on her explanation. “It means we start leaking the same information with small different details, extra information, some true, some false. We leave it in inconspicuous websites, reliable places, or places with a lot of traffic, we can spread printed copies because people think printed means reliable.

“Then we start rumours about why would SHIELD leak anything, we make people doubt in some circles, forums of the police, for example, and we suggest that it is an obvious trap for villains.

“We can then start with social media, giving a full story and some credible sources that plant a reasonable doubt in the general public and later, when it catches a significant amount of attention, we address it from various official ways to discredit the story.

“Once we try to discredit it, mainstream media and everyone who hates heroes and mutants will get ahold of it; the debate is served. They will say that we are manipulating the public opinion and using innocent civilians’ trust to capture the bad guys. It’s bad press, but with those channels there is never good press, so it is not a big sacrifice.

“For the big finale, we can half-encrypt different fake files and let ourselves be hacked by Anonymous or some other organization, it would discredit all the sources at the same time. From then on, everyone believes what they want to think and it becomes more manageable.

“And if we are lucky and we want it to go down quickly, we could promote the creation and spread of memes: The important leak becomes a joke, we latch to it and share the funny to save our image and it dies quickly.

“Most villains must be in that spectrum of the public. Whatever reaches the public opinion will reach them too.”

There was a peculiar silence, full of thinking people, awed people, and scared people, and there was Tony, smile threatening to split his face.

“And you can do that? A month after the leak?” Sam asked without a trace of humor in his voice.

“I like that infoxication thing.” Clint was there, of course, to remedy the lack of tacky humor. “I feel infoxicated already.”

“Of course I can, I’m still the CEO of SI for a reason.” Then she sat down and she knew that she was going to need to organize a lot of PR later, because there was no way that someone was going to come up with a better idea.

“Miss Pepper,” Pepper turned to the mutants’ screen. “if you ever find yourself in need for a job we would be interested in making you public relationships for the Xavier Institute.”

She laughed, not sure if it was a real offer. “No thank you, I know my limits.”

Tony talked relaxedly “She doesn’t, she’d solve world hunger if someone let her. And you can’t have her, we need her here.”

Pepper smiled warmly at Tony and he sent back his _What? It’s true_ look. Then Clint stage-whispered, “They are back. Good.”

Before the archer was murdered with a glare, Janet van Dyne spoke again. “That would rid us of the least problematic villains and hinder the problematic ones. But the problem is not solved. Someone will see through the farce.”

“We’ll have to manage them one by one and use the leak in our favor.” Steve answered. Nobody contradicted him, so there were no more ideas. Some seemed thoughtful. Walker, for example, seemed like there was something on the tip of his tongue.

“With that settled, war. What are we going to do with that?” T’challa moved the conversation along, and Pepper didn’t check if Walker had reached any conclusion.

Walker — or rather, Loki—  _had_ reached a conclusion, but the new topic was too interesting to let it pass. Jarvis’ counsel was on his mind, so he looked sideways at the Widow. He hadn’t had time to talk to her alone, and he didn’t actually want to share his plan, but the moment was then.

Everything could be a disaster, because first the humans had to agree to bring the fight to their planet. Thor would defend the idea, Hela’s envoy would probably help if he opened his mouth, even Migou, but they were all insensitive aliens to the Midgardians. Loki was almost sure that he was going to have to improvise a lot when the unexpected happened.

“Apparently, we need to drag it to Earth because it is the only place where we have a chance,” Stark said while putting his feet on the table.

“Did you finally drunk yourself stupid, Stark?! Earth is not prepared for interstellar war, a _higher form of war_ ,” Maria Hill shouted. Most of the humans were saying something, but her voice was the most imperative. “Thor said it himself.” She pointed at said God like he wasn’t listening.

“Look,” Stark said putting his hands up placatingly. “We can’t count on Asgard because they are the imperialist planet that we expected them to be. That Thanos guy wants some stones that were last seen on Earth. He will end up coming anyway. Would you trust Earth’s security to some aliens you don’t know?”

“I think we are supposed to be outraged about that last part,” Migou told Loki and Thor in a real whisper.

“Hush.” Loki forgot that he couldn’t simply hush the Prince of Asgard and an acting envoy of Jotunheim. This was interesting and fantastically timed for his plan. Loki turned to Thor, pushing him to talk and to think that it had been his own idea. “Aren’t you two shield brothers?” Loki looked at Stark. “He is fighting, here and now, on a different battlefield.” Thor finally saw the light.

“I should tell them about Asgard.”

“Good idea.”

Thor stood and started to explain the situation in Asgard; he spoke regretfully about his father’s change of mind, and about his own trips to the other realms, and everybody believed the straightforward god easily. Stark noticed the help sent his way and instead of thanking Thor, he looked at Loki and recognized his hand in things.

Loki, however, only had half of his mind to notice the look directed his way; he was talking lightly with Migou, low enough to be unobtrusive to Thor’s spiel about the Nine Realms. Migou looked around, suddenly thoughtful, and he stood up to explain further how Jotunheim was willing to send soldiers, but was not suitable for a big war. His descriptions of the hardships that the Jotnar were suffering were maybe a tad exaggerated, but touching nonetheless. He mentioned some lost weapon referred in the documentation that someone had copied.

Suspicion arose at the table. “Stolen? Could it be Thanos starting with Jotunheim?”

Why couldn’t humans accept things without questioning them? Loki stood too, with an apologetic smile for the public and a flaming rage for having to reveal yet another of his crimes to save the situation. “No, not Thanos, he didn’t. I… I took it, before we left the realm.”

“You stole it?” Steve had a look of disappointment that Loki could only compare with his mother’s.

“He borrowed it,” Migou stepped in. “We told him that we wanted it spread. Our culture once relied in an infallible source of power that stored everything; now making copies and spreading them seems only sensible.

“Furthermore, it is rumored that Odin will destroy them as soon as he is on the throne again, so it is only fortunate that not all is lost and at least one copy remains in good hands.”

The attention was deflected from Loki swiftly and Hela’s envoy talked for the first time to explain what Hela had already said the previous day: small and weak portals equaled a spot hard to evacuate.

Thor nudged Loki to stand up and say something too, so Loki explained how the hot lands of Muspel were bad for warlocks, even though they had a vantage spot with the portals; how Jotunheim was bad for people of warm blood and most weapons wouldn’t work in such low temperatures, despite the fine spot for warlocks; how Niflheim had some incredible beasts, but couldn’t take on a whole army; how the Dwarves lived in positions where an offensive move was difficult to pull off and how Alfheim was perfect to drown and sink ships if only they were more open to the idea of shield brothers.

During the whole explanation, Loki sent significative looks at Natasha; she seemed to understand, but others were catching on. It was the problem with non-Asgardians: they were too perceptive when Loki least wanted.

One of the mutants, the man from Wakanda, and the woman from the Fantastic Four were completely aware of the bold manipulation, Loki was sure. Barton looked like he had sucked a bad _sitruuna_ , so he suspected something, along with all the women in the room, apparently, especially Jane Foster.

Natasha saved him from being too obvious by being even more obvious with questions such as: “So if Jotunheim had the support of some mages, they could take a small army?”, “So the land of the Dwarves would be a good defensive place and perfect to ambush a small army?” or “So Svartalfheim would be a good fighting space for airborne creatures such as dragons?”.

Pepper joined the obvious questions, asking, “So if the Elves don’t like fighting companions, what would happen if a small battalion was dropped on them? They’d fight it off on their own?”

Janet van Dyne appeared to consider it a game. She said, “if there were a way to send few but big enemies to Niflheim, those dangerous things you mentioned would take care of them?”

Loki smiled to himself; maybe sharing his plans didn’t hurt as much as he thought when people were so ready to follow his games. Everyone stayed quiet about the final goal of their questions, out of convenience, because formulating it as questions was easier to accept than an imposition from an alien.

Stark, who seemed to have caught on later than the rest (or earlier? Loki had not been keeping track), mentioned lightly, “Do aliens have a translation for Divide and Conquer, or is it only us, humans?”

Loki finished what he had started by mourning the fact that they couldn’t divide their enemies, because Odin wouldn’t help with the Bifrost.

Thor lit up like he had seen the answer to everything and beyond. “But, the portals! we can use the portals!”

“Oh, you are right!” Walker seemed to brighten up with him.

“What do you mean, what portals?” Someone had not informed the people on the screens about Thor’s current mission on Earth.

“We have been traveling…” Thor had already explained part of their travels, so it was not difficult to introduce the portals into his ongoing auto-epic.

While Thor did that, Loki checked the tension in the room. After all, the tables had turned for the ones who were attentive enough. The strange man who had appeared out of nowhere with the portals as his only mission had just transformed those portals in their best hidden weapon and a pivotal point to their survival. It could be seen as a welcome advantage or the worst of ideas. In any case, it was a risk.

Tony knew that Walker had engineered the whole conversation, and even though he liked the plan and the exposition of it, he needed to interrupt the internal happy dance of the room. “There is a problem with that. They will come from wherever they can. A few from the portals, but if I’m not mistaken, they’ll come from the skies with big weapons. We can’t fight that. Not yet. Give me a year and I’ll put human ships out of the atmosphere. But we have months at best. I have individual ships that hold atmosphere. I have ways to build jets and ships as big as the helicarrier, what I don’t have is battleships. Do the Fantastic Four have a battleship? Do the X-men? I know SHIELD doesn't. I built most of their ships.”

“We can try to bring them to the ground,” Janet van Dyne suggested.

“But they will always be a threat in the sky,” Clint warned.

Walker seemed to like the challenge to the plan.

“Tony is right,” Kate confirmed. “We can’t cover all fronts. We need something more complex than a carrot and a stick. Because even if they bite, they can leave one of those ships there while they send their army down and we would be as good as dead. We need something to wipe them from the air.”  

“I wouldn’t worry just yet,” Natasha said looking at the tablet in front of her.

“Why, Widow?” T’challa asked from his screen.

“The answer is practically upon us.” She lifted a finger, still looking at the tablet.

It wasn’t as well-timed as films pictured it. Natasha made them wait for almost a whole minute, only muttering for herself. Surprisingly for Tony, there was a mischievous smile playing in Walker’s lips. Ok, maybe he had been looking at the sorcerer more than he strictly should since he had realized how he had played the room. But what was with the smile? Did it have to do with that mission the previous day?

Natasha seemed to hear something and, at her signal, she and Walker stood up. “Prepare for the worst,” she told him. “When do I not?” he answered back. Nat opened the door, and the conference held their collective breath, but there was nobody on the other side. Tony was going to make a mental note about how different Walker acted with the Widow, like Clint did when he was with her, but Natasha spoke first.

“Tell him to turn that off.”

Walker nodded. “Unless you come to the same place where you were last defeated with ill intentions, show yourself.”

Natasha muttered something like, “Show off,” and Walker only grinned.

An electric buzz accompanied the disguise falling, and Tony didn’t even blink between the Chitauri apparition and calling his suit. He was not the only one caught off-guard.

The creature made a noise and a gesture, Thor frowned, and Walker translated even when nobody had asked him to, as if he had done this before. “He says that he is Sich, envoy of the Chitauri.”

Natasha didn’t have time for pleasantries. “Do the Chitauri agree to work and collaborate with humankind and whichever races it is allied with?”

“Most of us do, if the efforts offered in return are true.” Walker translated.

“Most of us?” Bruce asked looking at Walker. “I thought Chitauri were a mind-hive.”

“Only when the colony is threatened.” Walker made the translation again.

Natasha saw the piqued look in Bruce’s face and she quickly intervened to postpone the psychochemical interrogation that was surely to come. “Then take a seat. We were discussing Thanos’ arrival to Earth and the ways to defend against it. Humans seem to have a shortage of ships.”

The Chitauri didn’t take the offered seat yet. “Our ships lack crew. We are not as many as we used to be. Escaping Thanos was taxing to our resources.”

“What do you say, Colonel Rhodes.” Natasha turned to the Airman who had stayed silent through the meeting. “Can you spare a few soldiers to learn how to work those things?”

Rhodes was used to Tony Stark, so he would be damned before he was bewildered for more than half a second. “I… yes. I have just the people.”

The lightest version of the Iron Man suit rushed in anticlimactically late. Tony made it stand behind him as if it was his plan all along. Tony looked at Rhodes, daring anyone to make a comment. The conversation continued without further comment, but the snickers from Clint, Kate and Darcy were more than obvious.

“Would your soldiers teach ours?” Rhodes asked the Chitauri.

“If the payment is true…” Walker translated once again.

“What payment is that?” Maria Hill asked directly to Natasha.

“Thanos has their children,” Natasha explained, directing her answer to Steve. “He is experimenting on them to create soldiers. We will help.”

“What? and we can help _how_?” Maria insisted.

“There must be soldiers already somewhere on Earth.” Walker bypassed the question. “Or there will be soon. We will use them to track Thanos’ ships and extract or destroy whatever we find there, but there is no sense in discussing how until we find them.”

“We need to review what we are going to really do,” Dr. Richards stated.

“What resources do we have? The Nine, minus Asgard,” Steve counted.

“And part of Vanaheim,” the Nifelheim envoy remarked.

“And minus that. We can count on the mages that Hela mentioned that are missing from Asgard, and the satellite nations. And now we have the Chitauri,” Steve finished his summary.

“And the Guardians of the Galaxy offered their help,” Walker added offhandedly.

“And that. When did that happen?” Steve asked confused.

“Nevermind the _when_. Those are the participants, we should know what kind of offensive and defensive resources they have, we need numbers, we need to meet them in person, we need to communicate…” Rhodes was getting into his more usual function.

“Wait one fucking second.” Tony interrupted their spiel. “You said there was a way to avoid all of this,” Tony pointed at Walker, “like a super magic weapon of doom: the Gauntlet.”

Walker hummed waiting for the human to say something more interesting.  

“I can do it!” Tony cheered up. “I can’t put a world-scale army of spaceships in the skies, not with our current politics, but I can fix this. I just need to meet some Dwarves and Elves to explain some things. I can rebuild it.”

Walker and Tony were having a staring contest, testing, evaluating, challenging… Everyone who had seen the Gauntlet and heard the explosions looked at Tony with patent skepticism.

“What is he talking about?” asked the ones who hadn’t.

“He wants to repurpose an archaic superpowered glove that even aliens who have lived longer than mankind are unable to crack, to fight Thanos,” Jane explained.

“There is no time. He can’t do it.” Doctor Richards said from a screen.

“Oh, like you can talk,” muttered Sue Richards.

“He can!” Walker found himself defending the human. It was mostly true, he had surprised the sorcerer with some inventions and ideas, this could be the same. “He only needs some help.”

“You can’t waste time with this foolish mission, Walker,” Thor tried to convince him, relatively softly compared to his usual volume. “We still need to visit other realms.”

“We won’t lose time, Thor. He’ll come with us and Jane, while we finish the maps. That’s all the time he’ll have.” Walker turned from reassuring Thor to grinning at Tony. “It will be a very short time, are you up for it?”

The self-assured smirk was returned in full with a “Hell yeah!”.

“We need Stark here.” Maria Hill was bent on ruining their fun.

“What for? You have my specs. Pepper knows what we can and we can’t do with SI, you can work with that. I only want a few days; if I fail, we still have time to do something. If I don’t, the war is ours.”

“In any case, that is your private project, we can’t pin our hopes in a vague chance,” the white-haired woman said. “Do ask for help if there is something we can do, and keep us informed.”

“Through what? a Facebook group?” Tony mocked.

“Can you create something private and discrete?” Steve requested.

Tony typed a command with a smile that told Pepper that he had been waiting for someone to say just that. Their phones pinged. Pepper sighed and opened her Starkphone; there was a new app with the icon of Dora the Explorer in bright colours in the middle of her screen.

“Something a bit _more_ discreet?” Steve asked with a sigh, after also looking at his phone.

“So picky,” Tony murmured. The bright icon changed into a dark book that could pass for a dictionary app. “Done.”

If someone was pissed for having been hacked, they didn’t take if further than a few grunts. Steve left the issue behind and started to push the aliens to get a better idea of what they were doing. The meeting finally seemed to center in the war proper, and Thor and the Nifelheim envoy started to get more involved.

Pepper noticed that Tony’s attention had drifted to the issued pad. There was one in front of everyone. Pepper had started to put them there when she discovered that it kept the people in her meetings from using their phones, and that she could control what they had done afterwards.

By his face, Tony was messing with the messaging system of the intranet. And since there was only one person who was reacting exactly when Tony appeared to pay attention, Pepper had no doubt that the person he was talking to was Walker.

She unlocked her own tablet and opened the SI conference room chatroom interface. Surely enough, the messages started to appear onscreen.

Station 1: I want to try to fire a repulsor in the bezel that draws energy

Station 7: The mouth of the spell. I saw your reactor in Asgard, there should be some interesting results.

Station 1: interesting means boom?? :D

Station 7: The microspell we found yesterday should make sure that the integrity of the gauntlet is kept in an explosion.

Station 1: and the integrity of my pretty hands?!?! O^O

Station 7: You care for your pretty hands, I’ll care for the important parts.

Station 16: OMG, you two think you r SO sneaky right?

Station 1: 16?

Pepper noticed Tony looking up from his tablet to count seats, and therefore stations.

Station 1: Darcy! YoU aRe aLiVe! I wasn’t sure, you’ve been annoyingly quiet, you were my last chance to have fun in this boring 2 death thing

Station 16: I’ve been taking notes, I decided that I’d transform my politics degree in a Galactic politics degree, sounds better

Station 7: Observing is a wise choice in that case.

Station 16: U are the dude jumping portals, right? I don’t think we have been introduced

Station 7: I don’t think so.

Station 16: Tony, you didn’t tell me that there were going 2 be more hot people than usual. >:( I demand to be introduced in person

Station 1: Menace…

Station 16: You can’t say no after what you did to my new Tablet.

Station 1: The one I gave you you mean

Station 16: detailsdetails, so introductions when, *pretty pout*

Station 7: I think what the Wakanda leader is saying is of interest to your notes.

Station 16: … tru

Station 1: So what happens to a thaum in the vacuum?

Station 7: Depends on the kind of thaum.

Station 1: What do you mean “kind”?

Pepper locked her tablet again. Tony was Rhodes’ to manage today, so she was not even going to try to make him behave. What’s more, despite the side conversation, Tony seemed to be actually paying attention to the main discussion; he even mentioned the space elevator project. Then again, Walker didn’t have much time to text, since he had to repeat everything for the Chitauri and contribute to the conversation on his own.

Pepper took careful notes of her impressions on everything, because Jarvis was already making a draft of the meeting with the highlights and conclusions. The Fantastic Four had to leave early because Doom and company were causing more trouble than expected.

Pepper made mental calculations of political consequences, live cost, protection for civilians, and Earth’s strong and weak points; the whole SWOT analysis.

She was familiar with what had to be done to prepare a war and very few, except the Avengers, seemed ready to hear a woman like her talk so freely about collateral damage and shooting range. Everyone tended to consider her a woman of straight morals, conveniently forgetting that she had worked for the Merchant of Death in his days of warmongering, without complaining.

Even Tony forgot that she had only had a small moment of doubt when she killed Obadiah, and it had been when she realized that she would kill Tony too. He especially forgot that she had pushed the button anyway.

Inter-realm warfare was no different from her previous management of wars; it was a matter of adapting. Pepper had never lived the sudden eye-opening experience of a cave; she had lived other situations over the years, but she didn’t reject weapons in the same way Tony did. That little fact had worked in her favor before, but never as clearly as right then.

She stayed through the whole reunion even though others left as they were needed elsewhere. When it was only the Avengers and their plus ones, they decided to call it off and go to eat. All except Walker, who left, to Tony’s utter disappointment, to keep opening portals.

Over lunch, Kate almost created a war when she explained who the Young Avengers were. Steve and Tony disagreed over how to deal with their existence and a compromise was reached when the Young Avengers were required to have Stark protections and Avengers training in the tower. All in all, it was just another day in the office, if the office was full of superheroes.

Tony kept having ideas about the Gauntlet and missing Walker. Rhodey, Brucey and Jane were good substitutes, but Walker knew what he was doing. Jane asked if he was fine and Tony was not fine (although that’s not what he answered). Tony wanted to ask Walker why he had seemed so comfortable with Nat, and why he had left to catch portals without Thor again, and why the B-89 piece in the gauntlet sounded like wood when exposed to radio waves.

Tony rubbed the nape of his neck every few minutes, and it was because he was trailing after the damned sorcerer like a puppy, and he was aware. If Tony could, he would leave the issue alone and not analyze it at all, but his current source of entertainment was off who-knew-where doing magic for the greater good.

The thought was invading like a plague. Tony knew himself, sometimes, and he knew that this was an obsession. He had ways to deal with obsessions; he had been obsessed with Bruce once, for example, and a science binge with him had made it manageable. Tony dealt with temptation by drowning in it until it was not tempting anymore; excess all around. The thing was: Tony had already been in a science-magic binge with Walker, and in an adrenaline rush; the obsession was still there. Later on, the sorcerer had scared him and had lost Tony’s trust when the thing about the voice and the Phoenix happened, and the obsession was stubbornly still there and growing unhealthily.

Tony had another way of getting rid of obsessions, and it was wrapping them with sheets, but that was out of the question if he wanted to stay professional. And Nat had told him not to trust Walker, but maybe she was using reverse psychology, or maybe she knew that he would think of that and she was using reversed reverse psychology. Would that be called direct psychology, or just psycology? or maybe just sincerity? was there a third degree of reversion in psychology? Tony wanted the sorcerer close, and then he wouldn’t need to ask himself stupid introspective questions.

Tony pinned his hand on his leg to keep from rubbing his nape for the nth time.

Walker was indeed opening useful portals while Stark despaired, but Loki was musing over what the heroes had said during the meeting. First, Migou had confirmed that Jotunheim knew that it had been him who copied and stole the crate, but he had also mentioned a powerful weapon hidden in the reading material. Loki had not had time to open the crate, but now it was on his list of high priorities.

And he was also thinking about that SHIELD leak, and about the villains that they wouldn’t be able to control. His mind was running with the idea to unexpected places; Loki was known for always having several irons on the fire; maybe it was time to add one more iron. Maybe it was time to bring Loki back and pay some visits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to split this one up. Today the first half, next week the other half. Kudos! Comments! I love all of them and all of you, lovlies!


	15. Blindly and Boldly

When Loki came back to the tower, Jane Foster was waiting for him to make good on Walker's promise about explaining the working of portals. She had her study, her machines, and an unusual amount of curiosity. The other science-inclined people in the tower flocked to them in a matter of minutes, and Natasha actually accepted the invitation, though probably just to keep an eye on him.

What Loki had been discovering in the last days with the other humans was that ‘science’ was not the same thing as ‘magic’ as Thor had once suggested. Instead, magic was a lot of theories and practices that humans had never accessed, where science was a way of thinking. Loki liked the difference and how both functioned together: Loki knew how to create an illusion, science wanted to know why it worked; Loki knew how to travel the paths, science wanted to know why the paths were there in the first place.

Loki knew that magic required that science way of thinking, but Asgard didn't allow it. There were many things to consider under a new point of view, so indulging the humans' curiosity was indulging his own. Loki was learning that there was more to magic than he had ever seen in his books, and _humans,_ creatures who didn’t know the first thing about magic, were the ones asking the right questions.

And, even with all their questions, they were not advancing in their understanding of portals. With Stark it was easy; he explained his engineering or physics and compared them to magic where they converged. Loki was learning more than expected about human machines and coding. But Jane still didn’t have the terms to define her field, or she had invented new terms. As a consequence, the other men were as bewildered as Loki, and any kind of explaining was arduous.

Loki remembered of how he had worked with the Jontar; they had that science-thought too, even though they didn’t call it science. However, Loki had things in common with those creatures that he didn’t have with humans. Like not asking what the Ginnungagap was made of and what was the difference with the Yggdrasil; things that simply existed and that they didn't need to define to make portals work.

Fortunately, the elves had always had strange ways of teaching the Yggdrasil. Maybe they could answer the questions in a more understandable way for the human. Loki would talk to some people to arrange a gathering with the best Ferdamadur among the Elves, that was their next destination, after all, it could as well be profitable for all.

In conclusion, without an Elf to lay bridges between them, the explanation became a discussion over dinner and Loki forgot about the unopened crate in his pocket dimension that he had planned to check as soon as he could. They talked for so long that Jarvis turned off the lights, because they weren’t anywhere near the end of the conversation. Stark whined, “five more minutes, Mom,” but Jarvis didn’t turn the lights on again until they were leaving for their respective rooms.

Before going, Stark called _dibs_ on Walker _,_ which apparently meant that Stark had entitlement to Loki’s time  — humans and their strange words —  and the rest of the scientists were disappointed. It was a curious feeling, being so wanted. Loki wanted to say that it was his rightful place, adored by lower beings, but he couldn’t bring himself to think it. They didn’t think him superior, and during the next days they sometimes wanted him, just him, to know his opinion on something, or just to talk.

Like Darcy, the young woman, novice to Jane, who had wanted to meet him and had included in their conversation every topic from clothing to food to being left on Earth by friends who thought that one was going to meddle; but how was one not to meddle when it was _right there._ She dragged the conversation to her field of expertise and they ended up talking about something called democracy. Loki came to the conclusion that Darcy would have been a good source of human understanding if Loki had had more time to talk to her, but these days there was always something or someone in need of Loki.

Loki split his time between opening portals accompanied by Thor whenever he felt like it, talking with Jarvis and Natasha, playing translator with the Chitauri (until the appointed linguistics expert finished his ‘Chomskian project’ to teach humans their language), heating those new irons, answering questions, and directing the new envoys of different races who had started to arrive to the Tower to discuss the terms of their war when Loki opened more portals, among other things.

The master schemer didn’t have time to dedicate to the Gauntlet, even though Stark was advancing alone. They met in the kitchen, and in the hallways, and Stark had given him a mobile phone, so they spoke when Loki was traveling or didn’t have company.

It meant that Loki didn’t have a minute for himself, literally, and that the other Avengers had started to make fun of their fleeting lessons of applied magic. Barton was specially fond of repeating how long-distance relationships never really worked; Thor was fond of the joke, but he liked better reminding them (when neither of the participants were present, because he valued his life) how Natasha and Walker worked fantastically well together.

Even before the taunts, Loki had noticed that none of the other humans were as insistent as Stark, but he had ascribed it to an obsessive mindset and the knowledge that the Gauntlet could save everybody a lot of trouble and quite a few lives. Loki ignored the jokes altogether, except when he made spicy _everything_ that Barton ate, or when he changed his bow with a replica that snapped and hit the archer in the face, and maybe one or two more.

However, about four days into their visit to Midgard, Loki realized that he had not opened the accursed crate yet. On the fourth evening, Loki postponed his visits and his portal-fishing, turned off his phone, and took the crate from his hidden spot and to the living room of Thor’s floor. The Thunderer was with Jane again, so Loki had the floor for himself.

The lid of the crate sled to a side without much trouble. Loki took several of the things that passed for books in Jotunheim and piled them on the ground. He had not expected to find books as he knew them, of course; Jotunheim was not a place with an excess of vegetation or wildlife, so the materials to build their civilization had to be different perforce. The big crystal and opaque prisms were not completely unexpected.

Their blank state, on the other hand…

Loki took more and more of them out of the crate, trying to find something readable, but the same blank prisms kept coming. There was some magic in them, but a revealing spell showed nothing. Loki wondered if this was the Jotun concept of justice for thieves, or if there was something that he was ignoring. Maybe he needed to connect the correct crystals?

Loki couldn’t contact Migou, or any of the other Frost Giants he had met. The last he knew, Jotunheim had received the hiding mages, and they were practicing together military tactics to receive Thanos as he deserved. Nobody would waste time with what was probably a prank, played on a petty thief.

Then again, Migou had seemed understanding and earnest during the meeting, not vengeful. Loki didn’t think Migou had a mean hair in that thick white fur of his, so what was going on with the crystals? Loki was missing something, he could feel it.

The sorcerer paced the room with one of the crystals in hand. Where was the trick? He was supposed to be a master of tricks. Loki brushed a finger over the surface. It looked smooth but he felt ridges under his fingertips. That was probably where the magic energy was going, but what did it mean?

“Walker?” Loki turned to the unexpected voice; Stark. “Jarvis told me you were here. Since villains seem to have dropped off the face of the planet, I have some free time and I wanted to ask you something about the circle piece on the base of the Gauntlet, but you turned off your phone.”

“And there is a good reason I did,” Loki muttered. Stark wasn’t leaving, although Loki read in his silence awareness of how unwelcome he was right then.

“What, you wanted you-time to use all these… what are these?”

Loki gave up. He wasn’t going to drive Stark away and he was not solving anything, so he couldn’t see a reason to keep trying. He walked back to the crate where Stark had started rummaging with clinking noises.

“These are supposed to be Jounheim’s heritage and culture.”

Loki put a hand on each corner of his side of the box and hung his head, defeated. Both Stark and Loki started to speak again at the same time.

“But I seem to have been fooled…”

“And they use braille of all things?”

Loki looked up. “Braille?”

Stark was propped up with his elbows on his side of the box, he was stroking a crystal made for giant hands and he shrugged like he was stating the obvious. “Well, alien braille that uses this instead of dots.” He kept stroking the surface and closed his eyes. “It has texture too! The guys at the accessibility department would love to see this, it changes as it is touched. They have been working at ways to make tablets more accessible, but they are having trouble with making images touchable, at least they were having trouble last month. Maybe they have solved it already, but it is usually so expensive to manufacture that it actually puts a dent in our profits. I _did_ tell them to make a pressure generator glove and to load the images there, but they think I’m just good for building suits and paying their salaries.”

Loki took the crystal from his hands. “You mean you understand this?”

Stark frowned. “No?” Stark took the crystal back from his hand again. “I mean, I don’t even understand braille, how am I supposed to understand an alien touch-language?”

A touch language? Loki put his hands over his eyes and sat on the couch behind him. It was so obvious, he should have seen it.

“Are you fine?” Stark came close walking around the crate.

“No, I’m not. I saw Tupit touching the central column of the staircase and murmuring poems, and I saw the volunteers touching the walls of the temple to read them, and I know that Jotunheim doesn’t have much light even in the lightest days of their cycle. I should have realized that they did their writing _in touch_.”

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen.” Stark huffed. “Thor had the same revelation when Clint took out his hearing aids, sulking because we didn’t let him choose the movie.” Stark sat besides him with one ankle over his knee. “Apparently your godly kind is so advanced that you can cure deafness and blindness and you have nothing similar to this.” Then the human snorted. “Thor offered to send Clint to be cured in Asgard and Clint sulked some more.”

Loki still though that he should have known, but knowing that Thor had made a fool of himself for the same reasons made him feel better. Knowing what to do now, he touched the crystal. He could feel the forms and the textures that Stark had mentioned now that he was paying attention, and he could feel the different forms with each of his strokes, but it meant nothing for Loki, who kept passing lines of raised Jotun words mindlessly.

Loki looked sideways at Stark, who was looking back at Loki’s hands with fascination in his eyes. Humans were most peculiar and they overcame problems with an astonishing versatility, so Loki shared his new obstacle, wondering what Stark would do with it.

“I still can’t read it. The Allspeak wasn’t designed with this kind of communication in mind.”

Stark stopped looking at his hands and rubbed his goatee. “Jarvis, we have scans that can pick this up, can you transform it into something visible?”

“Sir, given that magic doesn’t react badly to technology like your latest experiment...” Stark flinched. Loki had not had news of Stark for a few hours only, he couldn’t have made something too terrible, could he?

“I won’t be able to read it, either,” Loki reminded him and leaving the topic of the bad reaction for later. “No Jotnar has ever seen their language written, so that knowledge is not included in the Allspeak.”

“Ok, Jarvis, call … Bruce, and … Natasha. If someone knows about surviving with a foreign language, it’s them. And send Dum-E with a scanner; having copies of this won’t hurt.”

Bruce was the first to reach their floor, looking out of place and asking why they wanted his help. Tony quickly put him up to speed while Dum-E came in and picked up the first crystal to start scanning.

“Do they have proper names?” was Bruce’s first question. “I usually start by learning some brand names, names of places, names of people …”

“I know! Voima, the queen, and Sinnikkyys, the king,” Stark exclaimed.

“Kodin Sielu, Migou, Tupit.” Loki remembered the short fight in the street and tried to recall the names that had been said there. “Akiak, Sivudlerk, and Tarktor,” and there was one more name: “Laufey…”

“If I may interrupt.” Jarvis said from the speakers. “Some of those names match with words in my databases for Icelandic names, Finnish words and mainly Inuit names.”

“Good!”

“What is good?” Said Natasha coming from the elevator.

“We are trying to read Jotun, because the Allspeak doesn’t cover it, and there seem to be human words in there.”

“Not surprising.” Natasha joined them sitting around the crate of crystals. “Ukraninan is 90% Russian, for example; cultures in contact develop similar vocabulary and adopt each other’s patterns of speech, especially when they live in harmony. According to Thor’s explanations, the Jotnar stayed on Earth for some time before Odin threw them out, so they must have left their language behind in the north.”

“Wait, but weren’t the Jotnar bloodthirsty warriors who came to conquer our planet?” Natasha looked at Stark as if he was being dense on purpose. Stark promptly shut up.

“So you have a bunch of proper names.” Natasha examined the crystals, too. “You are no closer to deciphering this.”

“But we are,” Bruce said. “Show me the texts.” He waved his hand to Jarvis and the scanned text appeared before them.

Dum-E chirped besides them and Tony patted him because, yes, he had done a good job scanning the crystals.

“Look. You see the number of repetitions?” Bruce pointed at individual symbols. “I’d say we have no more than twenty different symbols with variants.”

“Sixteen, Doctor Banner; with six variants each, which would make ninety six different combinations.” Jarvis brought up a table with the different combinations.

“Thank you, Jarvis. It means that it is not logographic. Logographic languages are some of the most hermetic languages you can find; they are not called isolating languages for nothing.” Bruce scratched behind his ear, thinking of how to go on.

“And it is not a fusional language either, words are too long for that, must be agglutinative.” Natasha crossed her arms. Bruce had long ago stopped wondering how much Natasha knew about the world or why.

“So now what?” Tony looked at the meaningless symbols and back at his friends. “I don’t care if the language is glutinous, what about meanings?”

“Jarvis, isolate most repeated combination of characters and note their use before or after the root of the word,” Natasha commanded.

“Jarvis, do the same with the languages you have mentioned and make a grid with most to least used morphemes comparing them.” Bruce followed Natasha’s idea.

Words flew in the air and neither Tony nor Loki were exactly sure of what the other two were doing. Loki was surprised to find that humans had a science for words too, something that in Asgard was just an art; it required instinct, not study. Nobody studied languages; the Allspeak did it for them.

“Jarvis, now, please extract other parameters about number of characters per word, number of words per sentence words that most frequently end or start a sentence, probable verb placement and everything else you can think of. Which one of the languages is most similar?”

“Bruce, hey Bruce, you are a doctor of what again?” Tony said as simple recognition. Bruce smiled his usual hesitant simile like whenever he did something spectacular in the lab.

Jarvis took a few seconds to answer Bruce’s question. “Inuit. Same number of total characters and combinations, same classification of language, similar variables in the rest.”

“We have something, but it is not much,” Bruce pointed out, self-dismissive. “We can extract some comparative vocabulary, but it is limited to a few words, or parts of words, and we don’t know how each language evolved, so there might be a very low percentage of real coincidences.”

“We have much more.” Natasha took over. She stood up and touched the symbols that Jarvis had brought up as partial coincidences. “Jarvis, you say that they have the same number of characters and combinations, right?

“In the main dialect, yes.” Jarvis brought up the chart he had displayed before and he showed a new one of the same size, but this one with triangles and jays. It was the Inuit alphabet, according to the title of the chart.

“Then there is a chance that they have the same number of sounds. Use the comparative vocabulary to extract correlation between sounds and characters.”

Both charts were systematically fused together and Tony saw some similarities in the way the characters were drawn now that they were one beside the other. Bruce, who had been following the explanation, gave Jarvis the order to substitute the original text with the Inuit alphabet, and then with the closest English pronunciation.

Tony frowned. This was not what he had expected; he didn’t have a translation in front of him, just words a mile long that didn’t make sense. He looked doubtfully at Natasha, who, inexplicably, had a winning smirk plastered to her lips.

Bruce started to pronounce the first endless word and before he had finished, Walker was on his feet looking at him in awe.

“I take it works.” Natasha grinned at Walker.

“It does.” Loki looked at the mess of letters that Jarvis displayed.

“Stop being a jackass and repeat it! We want to know!”

“It is not perfect, but it says. ‘On the eighth icing of the mother of the twelve Jotunheims, Farbauti, she had an orchard’ Which means that in eight Jotun years, Farbauti, the matriarch, had made a prosper land of the twelve tribes of Jotunheim, I think.”

“Jarvis, when Dum-E finishes his scans, convert everything to audio files and send it to Walker’s mobile.” A green light was all the answer Tony needed.

Natasha stood up to leave immediately, with only a cryptic look at Walker, and Bruce stayed for a few minutes, talking with them about the Frost Giants and how much Odin had manipulated that crucial event in human history. Tony accompanied Bruce to the elevator when the conversation became repetitive, but he looked back at Walker, who had taken up the tablet to keep listening to Jarvis’ audio files, and he made a split second decision.

The elevator doors closed with only Bruce on the inside. Tony had not been lucky lately; all the busy times, all the nights looking for portals, all the time wasted without working together in the Gauntlet. Tony had grown frustrated, a little; Walker’s absence in the workshop had become a constant disappoint.

Seeing him only in passing had played a number in Tony, who had been left always wanting _more_ until he had admitted to himself that he wanted that guy in the workshop … and everywhere else too. It was a visceral feeling, and Tony had wanted to find the right moment to do something about it; the right angle to approach Walker. As mentioned, he had not been lucky.

So in that split second Tony decided that fuck luck; he would make the right moment if it didn’t appear on its own. As the elevator left with a probably perplexed Bruce, or not, since Bruce knew him quite well, Tony made his way to the couch.

Walker was already absorbed in the first audible file that had been downloaded to the closest device, he almost didn’t notice when Tony tried to distract him, or at least make him look up. Walker just batted a hand disinterestedly and Tony was not sure if he was being rejected or if Walker was really not noticing Tony at all.

Tony went for double or nothing; he took the tablet from Walker’s hands and the sorcerer’s eyes followed momentarily the tablet before realizing that Tony was sitting on his lap at the same time. “I think I see why people find me so unbearable when I’m in my own head.” Tony threw the tablet on a cushion.

“What are you doing, Stark?” Walker was visibly dithering; Tony didn’t know what was going on under that red hair.

“Told you it’s Tony. What does it look like? Wait, is this some alien thing?” Tony slid closer to him. “Do you have some weird thing going on about this?”

Walker’s hands rested comfortably on Tony’s upper thighs without seeming to notice.

“I can’t tell, with how eloquent you are, _Stark_. Say, what are you doing?” Walker was still too neutral for Tony’s like, and not moving his hands, which were burning on his thighs.

Tony put his elbows on the headrest, arms dangling on the back side of the armchair to lean into his breathing space, quite sure that both of them were on the same page. “Well, I’m this close because I want…” Tony trailed off, looking at Walker's lips.

“Yes?” Walker was still looking, studying him.

Some of the studying was quite clinical, but Tony recognized the restrained interest, and the blown pupils were quite telling. Saying that Tony could seduce anyone that he wanted out of their pants was putting it mildly. There had been that incident a few years back, but it didn’t count if the girl was asexual! or a lesbian!

Utter failures apart, Tony knew what he was doing, and with only a few days of knowing him, he knew that Walker wouldn’t fall just for any flirty, sexy ass, no matter how perfect the ass, so he lowered his voice to the most sultry and suggesting tone he could reach and whispered. “I want... you… to explain the mechanics of magic.”

Walker cackled, surprised, and he leaned forward to rest his forehead on Tony’s shoulder while he kept laughing, Tony giggling along with him. “What? What did you expect?” Tony felt Walker relaxing under him when laughter subsided and he pulled back to look into Tony’s eyes, still three inches apart, three inches too far in Tony’s opinion.

“Mechanics, hm?” There was mirth in the man’s eyes.

Tony smirked when Walker’s hands left his thighs to hold his hips, right before pulling him closer and clasping them behind Tony’s back. Tony thought to himself that he was doing a great job helping Walker to make up his mind.

“For example, but I’ll settle with whatever takes that fantastic mind of yours from _linguistics_.” Tony said with feigned disgust and a higher tone that didn’t strain his vocal cords as much. “We can talk about the weather too.”

“Oh, well, if you can’t think of anything more interesting, I guess the weather will have to do.” He acted bored, but his eyes were full of mischief and Tony wanted it all.

Tony moved one of his arms between them; his hands were cold from dangling like that behind the armchair and he used his cool fingers to caress a strip from Walker’s nape to the front edge of his shirt, travelling his pulse point.

“I’m a smart cookie, I’ll think of something else if you don’t like the weather.”

Walker bent his knees and put his feet up on the front rail of the couch, showing a complete disregard of Tony’s furniture, but effectively trapping the owner of the couch and making him slide just one inch closer. “And what can a smart pastry think of that interests me?”

“Oh! I don’t know, woe is me! what could hold the interest of someone like you? spy plots? convoluted politics?” Tony pulled back, putting distance between them and noticed Walker abort a move to follow him. Tony studiously ignored it and hid a smug smirk before resting his back against Walker’s bent legs like he was making himself at home.

“Keep thinking,” Walker said, feigning disinterest (badly in Tony’s opinion).

“Of course, you’d need more than the Library of Alexandria  to stay entertained. Oh, but the internet, we can show you that. I still think that magic would interest you more.” Weird. At that point Walker was supposed to do something drastic to shut him up, like kissing him; exactly like kissing him. “Or maybe portals, those things are really quite something. Or you could tell me how Natasha and you will rule the world any day now. Feel free to stop me if you hear something you like.”

Walker crossed his arms and seemed perfectly content to let him rant forever. That presumptuous son of a bitch was laughing at him again. “Oh! I know!” Tony crossed his arms too, his pride a little hurt, but now certain that he was right when he thought that Walker wouldn’t be a regular catch. “You love laughing at me. Let’s talk about that. Or is that too easy? Maybe you are looking for harder topics of conversation.”

Walker seemed to be amused and tempted, but he also appeared to be be thinking. _Thinking_! With Tony sitting on his lap! That had to be changed.

Tony wanted Walker to be the one to come to him, but he had nothing against a little change of roles, so he leaned forward, even closer than before. Walker’s hands went to Tony’s chest as if to stop him, but he was still obviously laughing at him. Tony pushed through the hot air of their breath and kissed him. The hands on his chest immediately slided up to his neck and further up to his hair.

Tony was more limited, because he had to hold his own weight with one hand, but the other one was roaming freely to the space between the couch and Walker’s lower back. In this case, Tony's height was an advantage, because he didn't have to bend awkwardly to reach everywhere he wanted without having to stop their lips moving deliciously against each other.

Tony wanted more, so he kissed Walker's lower lip before moving on to his jaw. While he was there, Walker whispered, breathy, "humans have... strange... conversations." Tony then had to hide an ugly snort, but he bit the piece of skin that was already against his lips with an impish grin.

“You start the conversation then.”

Walker shut him up with a kiss to the lips followed by a hot trail of wet kisses down his throat. Tony needed to get Walker out of those clothes by yesterday. Tony clenched his knees together on both sides of the body under him and moved his arms to the front with the firm intention of yanking the shirt over his head, but Walker was faster and grabbed his ass. The move, since Tony was only supported by his knees, made him topple on the other man.

Walker huffed, but laughed again and Tony bit lightly where his neck joined the shoulder to shut him up, only managing to catch a fit of laughter too, but neither of them stopped their roaming hands. God, Tony loved when people didn’t take sex seriously, and it was not as common as he would have liked.

Tony decided that everything would go smoothly if they went to a proper bed, so he propped himself up. “There’s a perfectly ready guest room down the hall.”

Tony extracted himself from Walker’s lap, and away from his hands with some difficulty, then he stood on the couch and stepped on the pillows. (What? if Walker could put his feet on the furniture, so could Tony.) He strode down the hall, certain that Walker would follow, but mid-way a strong pair of arms seemed to hug him from behind. It felt more affectionate than they… but then the hands went for the brim of his t-shirt and pulled up. Before he could blink, the t-shirt was flying and when he turned, Walker had a daring smile on his face.

Tony raised an eyebrow and the stupid magician moved quickly and picked Tony up over his shoulder. “Don’t even, Walker!” Tony knew that the stupid giant was laughing silently, because he felt the rumble of his chest.

“I’m not even anything!” Tony saw how conveniently placed the loose edge of Walker’s robe was in this position, and he pulled it up until it was stretched over Walker’s eyes. The man huffed indignantly, dropping his burden and letting Tony gain ground under his feet, but Tony kept pulling until Walker was out of his shirt too; it was only fair.

Tony ogled him shamelessly while walking backwards until a door stopped his retreat and Tony avoided the knob against his spine. Walker had a menacing way of walking when he wanted, and it turned Tony on like nobody’s business. Each step was calculated, advancing slowly, but quick in the feet. So by the time Walker had him caged, Tony had his heart in his throat, pumping all the blood that wasn’t finding something better to do downstairs.

Walker’s hands felt cold even though they were not, to the degree that Tony thought he could almost feel the fingerprints; he was hyper aware of every wandering finger of those hands. One of them on his throat, the other on his chest and going slowly on his left side, then down to his back, then no contact but a clack and an absence of door behind him.

Tony would have fallen ass-first to the floor, had Walker not been there to pull him up again by the waist, still laughing, the idiot. Tony walked a step backwards and took off the sneaker he was wearing before throwing it harmlessly at the laughing man. It only spurred more laughing, especially when Tony pulled the other shoe off and held it, saying, “I’ve got a terrible weapon and I won’t hesitate to use it if you don’t strip.”

Walker took off his boots amidst gulfs of laughter and pretended conciliatory gestures. Before taking off his leggings, he sent a wicked look at Tony and the genius knew he was in trouble. With a flourish of his hands, the sneaker was not in his hand anymore, but twirling in Walker’s fingers.

“Now, I think someone mentioned stripping.”

Tony laughed heartily and proceeded to take his socks off very slowly; only, Tony didn’t have the patience, so the second sock went very quickly, as did the pants. To Tony’s surprise, Walker _laughed_ again and this time Tony was not sure of _why_. He had not caused it on purpose, so he cocked his head and sat on the edge of the bed.

“What is that?” Walker asked, throwing the sneaker carelessly away and getting closer while looking at … Tony’s Calvin Kleins?

Tony creeped backwards to the centre of the bed to make it difficult for Walker to reach him. “What is what?”

“You are wearing short pants under your pants.” Tony looked down at his boxers and did the mental math, while Walker crawled closer.

“Are you telling me Asgard never invented underwear and all Asgardians go commando?” Tony asked, boldly looking at Walker’s crotch.

“I don’t know if I’m going anything, but you could come here and find out.”

Tony smirked, because he was not going to be one upped.

“I don’t think so.” Tony enjoyed the flustered look in Walker’s face. “You are still an alien. Who knows what I could find if I put my hand down there.”

Walker crawled until he was sitting on Tony’s knees and splayed his hands on Tony’s chest, barely paying any attention to the arc reactor, but his eyes curiously locked with Tony’s. “Would you care, what you found?”

Tony shrugged, an uncomfortable gesture, since he was supporting himself on his elbows. “Not particularly. I don’t really mind, but I’d appreciate a little warning if it has teeth. I’ve had heart problems, a stroke would be...”

It seemed to be the right answer, because Loki smirked and didn’t let him finish. Tony’s mouth was assaulted; it was the only fitting word for how thoroughly Tony lost himself, right until Walker broke it to say, “There is a terrifying monster, with tentacles.” Then Tony did snort.

“You don’t know what is under my short pants either,” he teased.

Unfortunately for Tony’s coherence, Walker cupped his hard-on through his boxers and Tony’s breath hitched.

“You are not leaving any room to the imagination.”

Tony arched his hips against the delightful touch until the hand continued going up on his stomach. Tony pulled the arm on which Walker was propped and pushed the opposite shoulder, managing to unbalance him and turning the tables. Walker smiled like he was indulging Tony and Tony was going to use that in full. He put his index fingers past the edge of Walker’s leggings, which were even less concealing than Tony’s underwear right now, Tony nosed Walker’s ear and whispered.

“Fine, but if it has teeth I’ll make you magic me a new hand.”

Tony noticed that something was wrong when the phrase failed to elicit any laugh or complaint. He drew back enough to look at Walker in the eyes; Tony didn’t know what was wrong with Walker, but something was not right and that’s all he could remember before the word exploded white, leaving him high and breathless.

Loki had heard ‘I’ll make you’ and ‘magic’ and he had had too many bad experiences with those phrases in private; he was wary of them. In spite of that, Loki knew that it was not like that, he had seen that Stark was not going to make him do anything, and he was probably not using him because he had magic, but truth was not important.

Loki had started to think again with his head and he had taken a metaphorical step back, and then three more for good measure. Loki had _plans,_ at what point had he forgotten? Then, just as quickly, Loki realized that he had a different opportunity right in front of him, or rather, right between his legs.

Stark was looking at him, so Loki weaved a strong overwhelming spell around the human, who gasped, tensed for a few seconds, clenching hands and burying his forehead on Loki’s collarbone, and slowly relaxed, collapsing on top of Loki, eyes closed and starting to breath deeply.

Loki closed his eyes too, but in resignation in his case, and put his chin on Stark’s head, chastising himself for yielding when he had planned not to. In his defense, Loki hadn’t expected Stark to be interested.

A soft electric noise alerted him of something charging. Thor’s childhood had given Loki and the palace staff strange abilities like that.

When he opened his eyes, there was a concealed weapon pointed at him and Loki had no doubt the door was electrified. Loki sighed, closing his eyes again.

“I’ll make a guess, Jarvis, you tell me how right I am.” There was no response. “You monitor Stark’s vitals, so you know he is alive and well, and that is the only reason you have not opened fire.”

“It would be a wise guess,” the mechanical voice said dispassionately.

“I didn’t intend harm two minutes ago and I don’t intend harm now. Drop your weapon, Stark is no hostage.”

Loki felt the electric charge diminish, but not disappear.

“Which is his status then?”

“If only I knew,” Loki murmured for himself. “Right now he is a mistake I made. But,” Loki called magic to his hand and sat himself straighter against the headboard, “it is also a chance to find some answers for you and me, Jarvis.”

Loki turned Tony’s unconscious body and pulled him up against his chest.

“What kind of answers?” Loki noticed the curiosity in Jarvis’ tone.

“About the incident with the creature that you all insist on calling phoenix. Now is the most tranquil I will ever find his mind; I can try to learn why he became entangled with the creature’s communication. Can you trust me that much?” Loki looked up hopefully, holding his hand away from Stark’s head until the anima agreed.

Jarvis took a very long time deciding, calculating odds, factoring risks, including probabilities according to behaviour and keeping a rational mindset. Loki was not sure that the answer would be positive, but it was.

“You won’t be allowed to leave this room until I determine that Sir is safe, and I will place a reminder of my knowledge of your identity on record.”

“I wouldn’t be able to forget that if I tried.” Loki knew that he could circumvent those terms, but for once he didn’t need to trick anyone.

“Then you may proceed.” Loki thought that there was something expectant in the silence, but he ignored it.

Loki had to prepare carefully the spell before putting it anywhere near Stark; it was a mind spell, after all. He had to concentrate on what he wanted to find, had to think of the Bennu, and Loki thought with some dread that the Bennu would surely hate him when he discovered this. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time; the memory hit Loki, thanks to the spell drawing energy from him.

Loki had been interested in the Bennu before, when he was just a kid. At first it was amusing for everyone around him, how the little boy seemed to hang to every word from the fire bird, but then things changed. Thor and Loki were older and they went with bad company, namely, a bunch of young men of the same age but different race.

There had been a stern lecture from Odin about how Aesir shouldn’t mix their blood or their morals. Both princes had taken the lesson to heart, and from then on, they were very careful about who they mingled with (at least until they started disobeying Odin, years later). Loki had stopped visiting the aviary so frequently around that time. The memory was vague because Loki was more interested in other things at that time.

After a few minutes of concentration, the spell was coming along nicely, so Loki had some time to spare until it was fully fledged.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable for you, Jarvis?” Loki asked the question he had been wanting to ask since he remembered that the anima was everywhere in the tower. “You have eyes everywhere, you can’t but see everything. You must have recorded Stark and his famous uncountable partners.”

“That is something private between me, Sir, and half of YouTube users.”

Loki didn’t know what a YouTube user was, but he thought that it was safe to assume that Jarvis was not uncomfortable or ashamed. Which left the next question.

“Why didn’t you stop us?”

“Was Mr. Stark’s well being at risk?”

“Not as such."

"In fact, the risk of a violent end to the encounter was below the 2%, and Sir has brought home journalists with a much higher rate of negative consequences, but magic is still difficult to factor.

“And as you said yourself, I can’t help but see everything. Sometimes more than what the inhabitants of the tower realize.”

Finally the spellwork took the shape that Loki wanted and he wasted no time using it against Stark’s temples. The spell did its work, encompassing the whole mind, awakening every part of it and finding points of strain. Once he was in the place reserved to anything related to the Bennu, he found a big, disappointing, and slightly worrying gap in his memories. Nothing to be unblocked or awakened, only a void.

There was a missing piece of the Bennu, not a blocked memory, but a missing one. It was the least desirable outcome, the situation left Loki without options.He wasn’t sure of that to tell Jarvis when he came back, so he spun a twisted half-truth about how there was nothing in Stark’s mind that should worry the anima, and that the Bennu wouldn’t be a threat to Stark’s life or mind, since the ashes seemed to be the only remaining connection.

Why was it missing? Had someone done this to the Bennu? Odin? an unusual punishment? a cruel vengeance? Or had the Bennu himself gotten rid of everything that would have given him away if he hid amongst humans? Loki wished it were the latter option, but then, the memories would have had to be hidden, and only the Bennu knew where. _Who was stupid enough to hide the key inside the vault?_ Loki though for himself.

Then again, it was convenient for a fugitive Bennu, provided that the memories came back with the host’s death. It was a last hope just when everything was lost. It was just like the Bennu, fighting until the last drop of blood left him, but it also meant that the Bennu could be more valuable dead than alive.

Just when Loki was about to make a decision, Stark threatened to wake up.

Tony stirred and came to his senses feeling lazy, but also comfortable, warm, rested and feeling oddly safe. Then through half-raised eyelids he noticed the legs bracketing him and slowly remembered the last… minutes? hours? Tony knew whose legs were those, but he didn’t know how they had ended like that. There had been something, just before everything went ecstatically white and bliss had washed everything else away. Walker’s face? That wasn’t all; Walker’s disappointed face? That’s it, disappointed, Tony had fucked up again, and in hindsight it was not difficult to see why.

“Did you seriously knock me out with an orgasm?” Tony mumbled still sleepy instead of apologizing. “Don’t let anyone know you can do that in battle. You’ll get popular with the enemies.”

“There needs to be a certain intent in the other half.” Walker was serious, too serious for Tony’s likes. On the other hand, Walker’s warm breath felt nice against his back.

“Cool.” Tony put one hand on the knee next to him and traced patterns with a finger. “Then I was so horny that I fainted. Look what you do to me, Red.”

Silence. Tony wanted to think that Walker was not completely angry. He would have left if he was, right?

“Can we try this again if I shut up about your magic? To make _you_ faint this time?” Tony tried his luck not daring to turn and look Walker in the eye.

“You would have to convince me.” Walker didn’t sound angry, he was so pensive again… and Tony was so warm…

“You didn’t leave,” Tony mumbled.

“Jarvis locked me in until he was sure that I hadn’t killed you.” Ouch. That almost woke Tony up, but no. So maybe Walker was angry after all. “I could have phased through the door, but you humans say that it is the intention that counts, right?”

Walker shuffled backwards and one of the legs bracketing him moved under Tony to the other side. “I should take my leave.”

Tony wrapped an arm around Walker’s middle and pulled. He didn’t care what was going on, Walker was being stupid and Tony was fucking tired, he didn’t have the mental energy to deal with this. “Stay. You can ignore me or shout at me tomorrow.”

“Shout at you? Why would I?” Walker was going to make him say it? Really?

“The magic comment, you are angry, and leaving.” Tony realized he had closed his eyes again.

“I’m not angry.” Melancholic and abstracted would be better terms for his intonation, so Tony could believe him.

“Good, then we can do something else instead in the morning. Now shut up and get in bed.” Tony was not usually this adamant to make his partners stay in bed, but, as Tony told himself, the spell had left him feeling satisfied but unfinished, and groggy, very groggy. It was just the spell.

Walker hesitated before pushing Tony out of his warm spot and making room for himself. Tony fell back asleep with a triumphant smile on his lips despite the pushing.

Loki was too tired to go all the way to his room in the tower. Mind spells would do that to anyone, but above all, he was thinking through the exhaustion. Thinking was easier when Stark was sleeping but still at hand; it kept him focused. What was he to do now? He could go on a quest to retrieve those lost memories, but he didn’t know where to start, and it would take a lot of time that he didn’t have.

On the other hand, Stark was making progress with the Gauntlet, and they could still go to war with Thanos and have a fighting chance.

Also, and on a selfish level, if the Bennu wasn’t coming back anytime soon, Loki didn’t need his regard, and Stark was right there and he had something that Loki had missed dearly.

Loki couldn’t put a single name to it. Maybe it was the ease with which Stark treated him, maybe it was the kind of humor that Loki had been systematically denied since he left childhood, maybe it was the sincere interest he showed when Loki talked, maybe it was the way the little human couldn’t take almost anything seriously, or how fierce and wary he was when something did make him serious, or maybe it was how Loki could drop all his pretences but his name and face and still be wanted.

Whatever it was, Loki _wanted_. And if he ignored the Bennu, he could let himself _have_ , because whatever happened, Loki would be gone before the Bennu came back. It was not ideal, but it was more that the Norns usually let him have. He was more than tempted to risk some of his Mischief in exchange.

It was only fortunate that Loki had backup plans for everything. If he hadn’t, he’d have had to heed Hela’s counsel and kill the man to retrieve the memories.

And he didn’t want to kill the human unless it was absolutely irrevocably necessary. In the last months he had found the respect he wanted as a ruler of Asgard, the recognition he wanted from Thor, some of the answers he wanted about his past, his dear Hela back, even, dare he say, something like friends who would fight with him and Stark.

By all accounts, he should be terrified. All his plans fell around him or became other people’s plans, but he was finding it surprisingly easy to keep going.

Stark respired deeply, soundly asleep. A languid pattern, rhythmic and slow. It sounded serene, deep and relaxed. He wondered further; it was bizarre. He felt so content, in such dire time. His demise so close, Thanos looming. And still…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would appreciate comments on this chapter; I've tried to proofread it so many times that many words have lost al meaning to me.


	16. High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Next stop, Alfheim. They knew what they came to do, so they thought that it was a good idea to split up and search for clues.

Tony didn’t remember falling asleep, so waking up to the delicate, graceful, and melodious tones of a certain delicate, graceful, and melodious god of thunder was completely unexpected.

“WALKER?”

First Tony felt around; he was in a warm bed and waking up from a regular sleep instead of, say, having been kidnapped again, knocked out again, or having blacked out in the workshop again (which said a lot about Tony’s sleeping patterns). Once he was semi-awake, Tony wondered what Walker could have done to anger Thor so much that the voice carried all the way to the penthouse and through all his best insulation.

The mattress dipping beside him was the last clue he needed to remember that he was not in his bed, or his penthouse, and that he had not slept alone. Tony usually woke up to a blaring alarm, or a shout, or a cry for help; he would jump quickly to autopilot as soon as he registered the sound. There was no current emergency, so his autopilot mentally pressed snooze and snuggled into the pillow.

It was _Thor_ shouting, though, so sleep was a fantasy beyond realistic possibility.

Tony turned sleepily to his other side after the weight beside him left the bed and watched Walker silently but efficiently put on his boots. Tsk, Tony had missed seeing him bend to pick the boots from the floor. What a wasted chance.

Then the man conjured the robe that Tony had discarded somewhere in the hall last night; Tony smirked privately at the memory. Walker brought into existence all the belts, strips, complex leather gambeson, and the Asgardian overcoat that he usually took off as soon as he was comfortable. It was like a reverse stip tease, and Tony would have wanted it to last longer than it did, however weirdly calm it was, but Thor was still looking for Walker by the sound of it.

Walker seemed already fed up with Thor and it was only… some time in the morning. Tony could practically _feel_ Walker verging closer to exasperation with each new shout.

Tony couldn’t contain himself. “Not even a ‘Good morning’, Red?” Walker turned to him, hair still a pillow-mess and more aware of his surroundings than Tony was. By his startled face, Walker had thought that Tony was asleep. Ha! As if someone could sleep in the same building as a shouting Thor. “Does that face mean that I won’t have a second chance this morning?”

Walker was going to answer, but Thor shouted one more time before Tony could gauge if Walker would go with a yes or a no. The blond god sounded worried, and he sounded very close. Close enough to be looking into all of the rooms systematically, Tony groaned.

“I’ll better see what he wants.” Walker looked warily at the closed door. “We’ll see later about second chances.”

The sorcerer left the room quietly and closed the door behind him; Tony still didn’t manage to guess his mood before he left. Walker had a face like the stage of a theater, always ready to perform, and Tony liked when the play didn’t go as planned, when Walker had to improvise or let himself be seen. There was a thrill in throwing him off.

Thor’s shouts stopped a second later, even though his voice was still loud enough to understand his side of the conversation. The Mighty Prince had been annoyed at finding the mess of Jotun crystals on the floor everywhere and then he had been worried because Walker’s bed was empty. It was curious, because Tony didn’t remember Thor having to tell anyone where he was at any given moment. It meant that Walker and Thor were not on even ground, even though they could work together like twins, Walker was still some sorcerer while Thor was the prince.

Tony tried to overhear Walker's explanations; it was harder than listening to Thor, but not impossible with Jarvis’ help. The redhead explained in great detail the linguistic breakthrough, the crystals, the translation, the All-Speak… Tony snorted at how easily Walker dismissed the fact that he had not slept in his bed. Thor didn’t even notice the omission.

Tony stretched and threw the sheets back. He tapped his reactor, thinking how furious Thor would be if he did what he was thinking of doing. Scratch that, _how much could Tony annoy Walker before the sorcerer snapped?_ That was the real question: bringing down the stage. So Tony shook sleep from his eyes, took his socks and sneakers in one hand, and hung his trousers over his shoulder.

After picking everything up, he opened the door noisily, silencing the conversation outside, and whistled loudly a few repetitive notes while he walked through the hall, picked up his discarded t-shirt and stopped in front of the elevator, where he pushed the call button and waited (Jarvis could have had it there in seconds, but he knew when to indulge Tony if he was making some quality drama.) Only then did he stop whistling and looked back at the pair of men, as if it was just another Tuesday.

“Hey! Morning, Thor. You know? I thought that chest of yours was all muscle, but I was clearly wrong: it’s all lungs.”

Tony spared a glance at the Asgardian who was more responsive; Walker had an unreadable glare directed at Tony with wary looks directed at Thor as if he expected the Thunderer to react badly, but Tony was still alive, so he stepped into the elevator remorselessly while Thor went from confused to surprised, muttered something about Natasha, and shook his head. Tony didn’t tell him that not much had really happened and neither did Walker. There was Tony’s second chance then!

And if Tony wasn’t wrong, which of course he wasn’t, they’d be leaving Earth later in the day, off to visit another planet, so Tony rushed to make last-minute preparations, pocket a pearl, and put some protocols in place. He had been preparing to leave since the meeting, so packing up was a piece of cake.

Walker had told Jane and Tony to put any suitcases in the common rooms; Walker would transport them in some hidden compartment that he called a pocket dimension. When Tony took his things down, he was was not surprised to find a bunch of apparatus as well as suitcases already in place. Jane had to move her whole investigation of the portals, and that wasn't exactly hand luggage.

There was far too much bulk for one person, though. One was a duffel bag that didn’t match with the rest of the luggage, and the other bags... If he didn’t know better, he’d say that those were doctor’s briefcases, more suited for a biologist.

Then Bruce stopped his train of thought by bringing another suitcase, which apparently meant that Tony didn’t know better.

“Bruce? I thought you said you wanted Mr. Pea-skin’s destruction contained in one Realm?” Tony joked, more than happy knowing that Bruce was coming along.

“I know what I said, Tony, but since when do we ever tell Fury the whole truth? You didn’t trust Odin so I didn’t trust Odin.” Bruce let the suitcase down and muttered, “Fury was lucky that I didn’t snap when you were taken away.” Then he turned back to Tony. “This is different.”

“So Hulk won’t visit us now.” Tony sounded sad and was pouting; Bruce saw it as the joke it was, but that didn’t stop the well deserved clip to Tony’s head.

“I don’t think so. Unless we are expecting a fight,” Bruce said in that warning tone at which mothers all around the world excel.

“Jinxed. Now we will have Elves after our blood even sooner." Natasha came into the room and Tony recognized the owner of the duffel bag instantly.

“Why didn’t I know you two were coming?” Tony asked with exaggerated gestures of his hand.

“I told Walker and forgot to mention,” Bruce apologized.

“You didn’t ask.” Natasha answered shortly; she didn’t look contrite at all.

“You didn’t ask either, Natasha,” Walker said appearing from a sidehall and making the first suitcases disappear. “As of my most recent knowledge, we were not going to be graced with your presence.” Tony wondered about that pocket dimension.

“You should have guessed. I said I wouldn’t take my eyes off you.” She crossed her arms, but she kept her non-threatening blank face; that was supposed to be good.

The suitcases kept disappearing along with the machines; Walker didn’t pay close attention to Nat’s reactions like the rest of them did. Tony didn’t know what to make of Walker and Natasha’s interactions. There was something personal between them, but not the sexy personal, or the sisterly feeling she had with Tony, and not the ‘we are both professional spies’ that she had with Clint either. Each time they talked, Tony was left feeling more confused than the last conversation.

He had asked once or twice, but neither of them gave a straight answer. Tony feared what asking a third time would unleash, so he would wait for now, not stop, because they were like a big red button. Tony only needed to see how far he needed to be to survive the impending explosion.

“Are you all going to leave without a goodbye?”

Steve entered through the door, Pepper in tow. She wanted Tony to sign some paperwork before leaving, but Tony suspected that she wanted an excuse to say goodbye without making it awkward. Tony appreciated the effort, but he signed without showing it. Clint came just after her, and the missing happy pair of intergalactic lovers were the last to arrive. Steve clapped shoulders and gave hugs, even to Walker, who seemed baffled by the event; Clint said that he wouldn’t miss any of them and that they shouldn’t dare come back without gifts.

It was all very nice and heartwarming until a series of grunts in the (mostly unused) stairway made them stop the mushy talk and prepare for something new. These days, _new_ could be anything from a new envoy from Whoknewhereheim, to an enemy attack, especially from Hydra, who seemed to be the only ones really active lately.

It couldn't be that bad if it was using the stairs, so they were expecting someone friendly from the other realms. In the last days, Jarvis had opened so many new files for new kinds of aliens and personal files, that Tony actually feared for a nanosecond that Jarvis was going to run out of memory.

The one who appeared through the stairs didn’t need a new file, though. He was human, male and looking cuckoo in a not-hailing-Hydra sort of way. He wore regular clothes: pants, shirt, tie… all disheveled, but nothing military or strange beside the pearls of sweat on his forehead. He stopped at the top, regaining his breath, since he had obviously run upstairs, and he looked around, smiling when he saw Thor.

A fan? They had had some of those. They didn’t ever make it this far.

Before the man could take a breath to speak, Happy appeared from behind, tackled him to the ground and apologized for the intrusion. If Tony was not mistaken, the man had climbed the tower and Happy had used the offices elevator that stopped two floors below.

To save the _superheroes_ from the crazy fan.

Happy was considerably less tired than the man, but whoever he was, he still wrestled to reach Thor.

“Hervert?” Pepper came close and crouched next to the man, who ignored her, but tried to say something in the general direction of Thor even though he had his head crushed against the floor. “He is one of the technicians on floor 25.”

“That would explain why he knew how to evade security,” Happy concluded.

“Jarvis?” Tony asked, not convinced with the explanations. His security was the best; this wasn’t supposed to happen.

“He seems to be assisted by something outside of the current technical advances available to me.” Jarvis displayed the video feed of the room. “None of my systems detect him.” It was true; Happy was tackling thin air in the video. Jarvis was Tony’s best project; he had every possible access to Tony’s best technology. Something Jarvis could not sense lead to only one conclusion: magic.

Tony looked warily at Walker; Natasha was more discreet, but she did the same. Tony could admit that he liked Walker, but like and trust didn’t go hand in hand in Tony’s world. Natasha seemed to be of the same mind, and more of those present would join their skeptical club if the silence stretched any further.

Meanwhile, the man on the floor pushed Happy with an unusual strength for someone who looked like office material and launched himself at Thor. The God was prepared to fight, hammer in hand, welcoming the battle, but the little man stopped right in front of him, took a parcel from an inner pocket of his jacket and handed it over. No sooner had a bewildered Thor taken the parcel, than the little man collapsed to the floor with a hysterical smile, like a helpless puppet with its strings cut, and still he was muttering “Done” and “my lady” between pants.

Pepper and Happy leaned over the fallen body, wondering if they should help or not, but Thor dismissed the man and looked at the parcel. He ripped the paper off before anyone could suggest scanning it; it was only luck that there were no explosives or a trigger inside. The paper fell to the floor revealing a metal contraption the size of a thick DVD that both Thor and Walker seemed to recognize. At least Thor operated it better than the mobile phone that Tony had given him. When he touched a side of the round thing, images started to play, similar to holograms, but less grainy.

It was filmed in a clumsy way. First, the images were too shaky to distinguish, then the lens pointed upwards and they saw the face of a man they didn’t know. It wasn’t the man that had passed away on their floor and that Steve had moved to the couch, but he had the same nervous and demented face. Then the device was pointed to the front and there was a dark corridor. The man with the recording device started to advance, reminding them of a first person videogame, especially when they hear his heavy breathing. After a few seconds, they could hear voices getting slowly louder than the breath.

Tony picked up the paper and the note that had fallen with it; there were lipstick prints on it. He frowned and read it aloud.

“Next time, tell your brother to stay dead or I’ll make sure that he does. With Love, Amora.”

Thor and Walker looked up from the images, both of them quite shocked. Tony noticed that Jarvis had already sent the official SHIELD file of Amora the Enchantress to his phone.

There was no time to read the file, though, because the images showed a small group of people, most of whom were known for less than flattering things. And in the spotlight was none other than Asgard’s most wanted (and most formerly dead prince); Thor almost dropped the Asgardian hologram-machine.

Thor wasn’t listening, but the rest of the Avengers were, now that the voices were clear enough. The figure in full green and gold regalia was haranguing other villains: heroes would have to face Thanos, villains should use the chance to pretend that they cared about civilians, build a good image and gain the public’s favorable attention to compete with heroes, to present a campaign to discredit heroes by implying that villains cared more about humans, because they wanted to protect the planet where heroes were playing their games.

“That son of a bitch!” Clint shouted.

There was more; there was a lot more. The camera changed places and dates; there were other villains that Loki was talking to. Some of the villains took a lot of convincing, some needed a different kind of convincing and some were not interested at all, but others were sure that Loki coming back from the dead was part of some nefarious plan and they wanted in immediately. Even the ones not interested had promised to step away for a while.

“Well, now we know why villains have been so quiet,” commented Bruce calmly.

“And why Professor Xavier said that an old friend had decided to help so suddenly,” Jane added taking the note from Tony and turning it, as if she expected something more on the other side. When she didn’t find anything else, she passed the note to Bruce and looked back to the holograms.

“Thor, are you okay?” Steve asked to Thor.

Tony looked at Thor, because obviously the big guy was not going to be fine considering how frequently he had said that he missed his brother; Steve had upgraded from Captain Spangles to Captain Obvious. However, looking closely, the question was not as inconsequential as Tony had thought. He had expected to see Thor more shaken and devastated, or maybe happy to see his brother alive, but Thor had been holding the device steadily and now his face was blank.

“Friends.” Uh huh, Thor had his solemn tone, that was not good. “I can’t go with you; it is of capital importance that I find him. He won’t hurt me through Midgard again. I’ve been fooled too many times. I believed in his redemption, but this is the worst thing he could do to me.”

“Being alive, you mean?” Clint chimed.

“I gave him my trust again,” Thor explained. Clint was not sure if Thor had actually listened to him. “Last time, I said that if he betrayed me I would kill him. I intend to make my words count.”

“Didn’t we establish that Thanos was the big bad wolf now?” Tony tried to bring Thor back.

Tony was all for chasing the mad god, especially after he had learnt some things in Asgard. Also, he had dug up a couple of interesting things from SHIELD’s archives about the Battle of New York, and the 616 files from the agents with nightmares, and Hela. Tony wanted to chase down that alien and find the truth as much as Thor, but there was one big truth looming over them that Thor was ignoring: Thanos was getting closer, they didn’t have time for Loki.

There was no reasoning with Thor right now; he was about to go Hulk-mode blind to catch Loki, when there was much to discuss, and there were pressing things that were not Loki. Like their trip, the Gauntlet, how the hell Loki had known about the Thanos War, and why his efforts to destroy humans now were so different from the Battle of New York.

Tony kept an eye on his teammates. Raging Thor was raging; Jane was being ignored next to him; Bruce was Hulking much less than Thor; Steve was thinking as much as Bruce, probably seeing the same inconsistencies that Tony was noticing; and Clint was the most conflicted. He had struck something like friendship with the Chitauri over the last days, discussing the mind control, and he hadn’t been murderous towards Thor’s little brother since Odin took the hook from this mind.

Lastly, Natasha was as cagey as always. Tony thought that a revelation like this would shake her up a bit, but no. In fact, what she said was the opposite of what he had expected:

“I think we should let him do it.”

“WHAT?!” Clint didn’t approve of Natasha’s plan. Thor was even more indignant.

“Think about it.” Natasha pointed at the hologram. “Villains have been busy lately. We can stop patrolling and use that time to work on our plans. Furthermore, pretending to care about the humankind takes visible action on their part, it won’t happen just because they want to; they need to do something big, with good repercussions. And for that they need a lot of visibility, so we have them under control.”

“But they want to turn the planet against us!” Clint complained. “They want to make us look bad. Even if we win the war, are we going to come back to a planet that hates us?”

“When all is over, we will thank them politely for their collaboration instead of rising to the bait. Keeping a good image is a lot of work and takes resources; if they use them to create followers, they won’t have any left to build armies capable of levelling cities. They’ll get tired of being good and balance will come again, or they won’t and they’ll save us a lot of work.”

“So what, we go on with our lives?” Steve asked. He was considering it carefully, he was the kind of person to rush to a bad idea, but think for a long time if something seemed too good to be true.

“That’s the plan.” Natasha sounded final, and Clint seemed to relax at that. Tony didn’t know if it was some kind of Pavlovian response, or the certainty that she had everything under control. 

“I can’t– ” Thor started.

“Especially you, Thor,” Natasha cut him off. “Loki thinks he is being clever by fighting with tricks, but we have the upper hand.” She pointed at the windows. “If you go after him now, he’ll change his strategy and we don’t know if whatever he’ll come up with will be as innocuous as this.”

“Listen to her, Thor. We don’t have time for this,” Bruce said sensibly. “And knowing our luck, we’ll find him sooner rather than later anyway.”

“I can try to follow his movements and trace his position with the recordings, if that would ease your mind Mr. Odinson,” Jarvis called from the speakers.

Thor frowned and looked at the hologram, paused in a moment where Loki was smiling cruelly. “Aye.” He nodded. “Do your best to find him until I can alert Heimdall, my friend. Until then, we must go.” Thor suddenly rushed them.

“Wait, Bruce, do you have the vaccines?” Jane questioned suddenly remembering what they were doing before the man with the parcel interrupted.

“I left them in the lab.” Bruce walked out. “Don’t leave without me.”

“How have you prepared vaccines?” Tony looked bewildered. “I thought we were going to go all colonist-like. We don’t have their viruses to create vaccines, what did you use? Thor’s antigens?”

Jane preened a little and shook her head.

“The apples. I can’t create anything that prolongs life expectancy, but Bruce came up with a way to make the chemicals push the immune system of a human and boost immune memory for diseases that we have never seen. And the effects only take about two hours to start working, by Jarvis’ estimations. It is the most harmless use that we’ve found yet. We are thinking of patenting, but we don’t want it to become a business. As we said the last time you visited the lab, the moral implications are our biggest concern.”

“Why didn’t you wait for me?!” Tony was genuinely hurt, but it came out as his usual playful complaint.

“Gauntlet this, Gauntlet that, magix influx in the matrix. Sound familiar?” Jane mocked.

“I can multitask!” he complained again. On the one hand, he understood them and he considered the time spent on the Gauntlet as time well spent. On the other hand, you don’t leave your labmate behind! Ohana and all that stuff!

However, Tony’s complaints were interrupted by Thor’s question. “Why do you need that?”

“We are going to travel; we don’t know what might travel with us.” Jane always sounded softer when she explained things to Thor.

“What do you mean?” The big man frowned. “I have been traveling the Nine since I was a kid. I have never needed those _vaccines_.”

“Don’t you have viruses in Asgard, Thor?” Tony asked.

“Of course we do.” Thor frowned, expecting some kind of judgment and already getting defensive.

“The women who treated me when we had the problem with the Aether were doctors, right?” Jane smiled. She had seen Thor and Tony’s conversations; Tony laughed at Thor too much, sometimes maliciously, in Jane’s opinion. Thor called terrifying storms when he caught on to the mockery. Jane had learnt that a smile in time and a tongue less sharp than Tony’s did wonders making the god understand.

“Yes, they were,” Thor said, sounding less defensive.

“They know how to treat Asgardians, and apparently humans, because we are similar enough, and because they have things like the golden apples. Now imagine that we carry a disease that reacts with the people we visit in a strange way and they don’t know how to cure it. Or the opposite: we travel somewhere and we get infected with something that we can’t cure.

“It could spread and kill everything in its wake. Not because Asgardian doctors are bad,” Jane avoided the complaint in Thor’s lips before it was formulated, “but because it is new, and by the time they found a cure, the patient could be dead.”

“And in bad hands it could be turned into biological weapons,” Tony said before he could contain years of weaponizing everything in his hands.

Thor had that face that meant _My Jane is the best woman in any world, the rest of you can disappear and I won’t care_. Walker had been silent, but Tony observed that he had been listening attentively, and his face was concealed surprise and deep interest. Tony liked that face very much; he liked putting it there too.

Bruce came back with four golden capsules that they swallowed without much real complaint and they headed for the elevator. Just before leaving, Tony breathed deep and called Jarvis.

“By the way, Jarvis, you have a suit ready for Pepper since before… it has been ready for some months, I never got around to giving it to you,” Tony told Pepper directly. “It is not a get-together present, don’t worry. Take it as substituting for me as Iron Man, like you did with my company, but instead of being me, be you. Avenge instead of me!” Tony cowardly got back in the middle of the group, on the elevator, and pressed the button to close the doors.

“What?!” Pepper shouted.

“No time to explain, gotta go.” The people in the elevator had moved to the sides, leaving him uncovered, and the doors weren’t closing?

“Anthony Edward Stark, make time for an explanation and come right here if you want to have a tower to come back to.”

Steve, the traitor, was holding the elevator door, so Tony missed his golden chance to make a decent escape. He walked out of the elevator, though; if he was going to do this, it was going to be direct… and it was going to hurt a lot.

“Look, Pepper, I meant it when I said you don’t know your limits, and neither do I. I’ve been wanting to give this to you, and since the bunny I don’t know when to give you things, so just take a look, try it and trash it if you don’t like it. Just, just have it somewhere, just in case. Just, we are working in this war with Thanos and just let me leave with some of my dignity preferably now, before I say something even worse,” Tony ranted nervously.

Pepper didn’t talk, she hugged him, which only confused Tony, frankly, because he was expecting some shouting, or slapping, or a lecture in use of time versus giving presents to Pepper, or how inappropriate it was to give presents to exes or even why Rhodey had one before she did. Pepper simply left. Tony thought that he saw her wiping tears away, but it couldn’t be true.

The doors of the elevator finally shut and they left the building walking with Happy, because Tony had thought, against all logic, that Walker could open a portal in the common rooms. But of course not, the whole point of making maps of portals existed _because_ portals couldn’t just be created. So Happy drove them, guided by Thor, who had been keeping up with the portals that Walker had found. He had mostly forgotten his worries about his brother and was talking with Jane excitedly about the Elves.

Tony sat next to Walker, and he did not harass him with questions as much as he could, but only because Bruce was doing the harassing half of the time.

The portal that they reached was not some mystical place at a shrine, surrounded by candles and sublimated dry ice all around the arcane leyline. In fact the portal intersected with a concrete wall in a plain, dusty, humid, and forgotten basement. The crossing was uneventful, since Tony was not traveling in a Nopeinpyörä at full speed and against a rock. He closed his eyes all the same; he refused to have a panic attack in public for the sake of looking cool.

The first thing the humans noticed was the geoplanetary differences: a change in pressure, slightly lesser gravity, the smell of niter, strong humidity in the air, somewhat hot… all of them short-lived sensations and easy to adapt to. The spectacle before them, on the other hand, was stunning and difficult to ignore.

They had landed on a wet wooden floor of about 170 square feet; it was lifted with stilts over the water but the construction was solid. There were many similar structures around them, with small stalls and something like cranes. The platforms were joined with gangways, planks, and suspension bridges. The bridges had lights on the floor and the platforms had light panels that looked a bit like billboards, or information screens. There were no wires that they could see; it had to be working by magic.

The ways over the water lead to something that, upon first sight, seemed to be a steep volcanic island with dark soil and white steps, contrasting with the dark brown and vivid green of the flora there. The steps appeared to communicate the little structures over the water with the upper part of the island, on top of the volcano, also full of white.

They were wrong. On second glance, the silhouette of the island was clearly that of an old and dead stump of a tropical tree, roots spreading far. Even Jane, who had been listening to Thor’s comments for far longer than the other humans, was impressed by the sheer size of the tree. In their daze, they couldn’t help but notice the strong greenish light that came through the canopy over their heads. The leaves didn’t come from the stump, though, but from a dense wall of foliage all around the tree that covered them in the shape of an inflated tepee. It didn’t look natural.

Not to mention the floating things, the flying things, the sailing things with and without pedals, the light-screen things everywhere and the things with the things, because everywhere they looked there was something that they had never seen and didn’t know how to name.

Meanwhile, Thor and Walker were waiting; they thought that it was an overreaction and, even though they didn’t say it, both thought that Asgard held more beauty than an old tree decaying in the middle of the sea, but humans were strange creatures.

Natasha was the first to come slowly down from their shared Stendhal syndrome, still strangely euphoric. The other humans started to talk with each other while Thor guided them through some of the bridges. Natasha was used to observe in the worst situations, so she quickly noticed how Tony leaned slightly towards the sorcerer even though the inventor was discussing radiation with the other scientists; she almost giggled aloud and then she almost frowned at the the near  slip on her steel self-control. What was…?

But then she noticed that Loki was stealing glances at Tony and she didn’t care about her compromised self-restraint any more. It was just too precious: more blackmail material. She had been taking him to her investigations and had extracted from him as much as she could; this was just the extra mile.

Then Bruce said that the city reminded him of Yawnghwe, wherever that was, and Natasha forgot where she was going with her own thoughts. Jane said that the buildings looked like art deco, Natasha countered that art deco had had a few psychedelics with a cyber punk artist, and Tony listed all the films that he was reminded of, without bothering to make more veiled references. Natasha had an odd feeling of happiness, but it was not important right then as they laughed at the weird shapes displayed on the floating screens everywhere.

Loki lost track of the conversation when the humans started to discuss some lemnas that Bruce had picked up at the last bridge, bare handed, which was strange for such a meticulous person. The mortals were not out of breath yet, probably because they had a hero-like training, but they would be by the time they reached the Ringed Redoubt; the top of the stump, the heart of the city.

If a race of giants had lived in Alfheim, the peculiar group of tourists would have been climbing the white stairs of the dark stump vertically using their hands and ropes. Thank Yggdrasil that Faes tended to be smaller than the average… Niner. Maybe Stark had a point about a name for the people of the Nine. Not that Loki was going to mention it to the human, who seemed elated by… well, everything.

Flydende was a well known city, a place for the exchange of every kind of product. Products that Odin had banned abounded, and one could always find someone to provide any service forbidden in the Nine, but Loki had never seen it as somewhere beautiful. It was but the place where Odin once exiled him as a punishment, when he was just a scared boy.

It hadn’t been horrible; he had learnt about coveted trade and had met a good number of criminals that became vital for his future mischief-making. However, Loki had resented the old tree since then, mainly because Thor wasn’t punished with him. The former prince wasn’t thinking about the usefulness of Flydende now either; he was preoccupied about Amora.

She was back and she was alone, which meant that she had gotten rid of the hook and of Thanos. She was back _on Midgard_ , which meant that she wanted revenge, but the worst she had done was alerting his brother, which meant that she could be planning something bigger, but also that she still considered Loki a friend despite everything, or even that breaking her out of prison compensated for his little trick.

On the other hand, it could also mean that she had met Thanos personally, and that she understood the need for trickery; and that could become a double-edged sword quite easily.

But that wasn’t all. Gamora was supposed to alert him if Thanos stopped following the distraction; no alert had come. What did that mean? Had she betrayed him? No, that wasn’t right. The situation would be much worse by now if she had. Then what? Had something happened to Gamora and her crew? Loki would have known, she would have tried to reach him. Had she decided to leave Thanos alone? Loki couldn’t believe that.

The only reason he could think of was that Amora’s ploy to escape Thanos was good enough to keep fooling Thanos and Gamora even now.

Even a small doubt could damage the whole scheme, because if it was Amora’s trick, they were still safe, but if Gamora had deserted or died, they were defenseless. Amora had already made it to Midgard, Thanos could be the next one to come. A week, some days, hours… there was no way of knowing.

And on top of it, Amora knew that Loki was alive. Now the Avengers and Thor knew too, but  for the moment Loki was going to ignore Thor’s reaction to the news of Loki’s survival; he was not going to give himself away for a stupid rage surge. Even though every nerve in his body felt insulted once again. It had been easy to feel at ease in Walker’s life, he had almost forgotten that Loki had to deal with different expectations.

Thor aside, _Amora_ knew that he was plotting, and that meant that the news would spread further than Midgard one way or another because she was far more careless regarding Heimdal. Asgard would know about Loki and then the Council would believe everything that Odin said once again, and they would be remorseful enough to obey his every order, blaming Loki for everything. _Not that they didn’t do exactly that before_ , Loki thought bitterly.

“Hey, Carrot-top, where are you taking us?” Stark pushed Loki playfully with his shoulder. “I don’t think my master forger is over here.”

“Everyone in the Nine knows that Lady Kirker lives in Flydende,” Thor commented before Loki could answer. The intrusion was familiar to Loki.

“Wait, I thought we were going to Ljosalfheim?” Jane asked. “I even learnt to pronounce it right.”

“Nay, we are not there,” Thor explained. Loki knew that pattern too; Thor was about to jump to a speech about glorious battles against the Elves. “This is Flydende.” There he went. “This is the city of-”

“I was asking Walker, thank you,” Stark pointedly turned from Thor to the redhead. “So where is my smith, Foxylocks?”

Loki looked at the human who had dared to interrupt one of Thor’s epic tales and his knowing smirk made Loki’s mood improve. “What makes you doubt me?” he played.

Stark didn’t even pause to think. “Your perpetual thirst for making my day more complicated.”

“I can’t be blamed for that; you are the one who can’t help but engage every trouble in the vicinity.” Loki looked straight ahead instead of letting the blinding smile sway him, but his sour disposition was ruined.

“Don’t be modest, take some of the blame, you can’t go around just tempting innocent people.”

“Because you are the epitome of innocence.” Loki controlled his tone very carefully. “We won’t need second chances if you are so innocent then, we shan’t spoil that pristine innocence of yours.”

“I didn’t say I was innocent!” Tony complained. “I said you were tempting!”

“Am I, now?”

Walker had used a tone of voice that crawled up Tony’s spine; there was _meaning_ in those words and Tony wanted to answer in kind. “You…” the inventor noticed that he had overstepped when an eerie silence raised around them, so he dropped the topic in favor of going back to the conversation. “...have not answered my question.”

Tony extended an arm to point at the canopy dome around them and the flat, endless, blue line of the sea behind it. “Because any smith would need regular supplies of metals and tools. An island on a tree and in the middle of nowhere is… not ideal. Not that I can’t work in a cave with paleolithic tools, but _this_.”

Natasha nodded beside him, Bruce and Jane shared a moment of consideration with Thor and then all of them were doubting Loki, even Thor, who _knew_ that the smith lived there, seemed to want answers. Loki was surprised once again at how easily the human could drag his team with him, even unconsciously; only Natasha had the same control over them.

“Have you heard about fairy rings?” Loki decided to explain in simple terms.

“As in the fungus growth?” Bruce asked. Loki was not sure if they were talking about the same thing, so he didn’t comment.

“It is a way of living among the Fae. There are trees that flourish upon the harsh sun of this planet.” Loki pointed at the canopy over them. “But it is so strong that direct exposure can kill most Fae, probably even humans. That’s why they built this shade around the stump. Fae help the trees to grow for centuries, they build cities in and on their branches, and when the trees die, _something_ happens in the roots; for some reason portals start to appear around them. Therein is the reason for our visit: they know why portals appear, they can explain.”

“My smith?” Stark poked him, in search of _his_ explanation.

“Are you five?” Jane chastised. Stark stuck out his tongue.

“This place has portals to the best mines of the Dwarves.” Loki finally gave the last piece and he could see understanding in his faces.

“You could have started with that, Mr. Encarta,” Stark complained again.

“Ignore him.” Bruce dismissed him easily. “So the portals are created naturally?”

“The teachers will know what to say better than me.” It was the reason they had travelled there after all.

“So they are better than you.” Tony raised an eyebrow challenging the sorcerer.

“Say that again and you can try to go back with one of them.” Walker looked like he had won the challenge already, but Tony didn’t understand so he looked at Thor for help.

“They know a lot about the portals, that’s why they are the teachers, but they are not very good Ferdamadur. You don’t want to see the result of one of their crossing attempts gone wrong. There are few people in the Nine who can travel the paths safely because it is very complex, especially with company. I was very lucky when I found Walker so quickly.” Thor put an encouraging arm on Walker’s shoulders.

“Very convenient, don’t you think?” Natasha said almost… taunting? She didn’t do taunts, well, she did, but never so overtly. “It almost looks like they are hiding from the royal family who hunts them down.” Oh! So it was not a taunt, exactly, but she still didn’t sound like herself.

By then they had reached the high level, where the Ringed Redoubt,as they were told it was called, stood proudly before them. It was the busiest area; the ambitious Faes, Elves or otherwise, used it to keep control of the city; nobody lived in it because it was a place of reunion, trade, record, show.

Nobody was appointed to lead there; whoever could concentrate on the task for long enough, had a place. Thor had to announce their presence in the city to whoever was in charge that day before they could  go anywhere; Faes were only strict with outsiders.They didn’t have very rigid rules or leaders, but they despised not knowing when others came to their lands and why.

The humans plus Loki were left alone to roam the wood streets while Thor made the announcement. Loki noticed that the usually-serious humans were more eager than he had expected, but he didn’t think anything of it. When they were a smidgen less abstracted, he explained to them that Thor would leave for the main city to further their war plans. Meanwhile Walker would find more portal experts, because someone was bound to have at least part of a map if previous experience in other realms was any indication..

Natasha said that she was going to stick with Loki, and she didn’t admit a different option, but the other three humans were quite happy knowing that they’d be set mostly free in the city. Jane was going to join some Ferdamadur, Tony would go with the Master Smith, and Bruce had decided to just wander around where he pleased.

Loki didn’t notice how lackadaisical they were about being left alone and basically unprotected in an unknown land compared to their fervor over their new destination. It was like even the danger added up to their thrill, but he was too worried about the situation with Amora and Odin to care.

Thor came back with an Elf and another creature that the humans didn’t recognize. The Elf recognized Walker and asked about their visit while Thor went to show Jane  the view from the edge of the city.

Walker mentioned Smede Kirker and the Elf was visibly startled.

“Kirker? How? She is very reclusive, she only speaks with her Dwarves.”

Walker spoke casuallyestablish boundaries between them as the Elven custom dictated. “She didn’t appreciate my company in her forge, but her interest increased sensibly when I told her that I was going to visit another Smede, my Smede, because she was very obviously not as skilled as her rumors said.

“She still didn’t want her work to be mine, but she didn’t disdain a challenge with anyone I deemed better than her.” Walker put a grasping hand on Tony’s shoulder. “So I brought my Smede to defy her expertise.”

Tony shuddered and he wasn’t sure if it was the hand, the possessive, his strange overjoyed feeling or the position where Walker had put him. Tony was going to focus on the last one, which seemed the most likely to end with his neck chopped off.

“Walker, glad as I am that someone appreciates my genius, she can put spells in the materials. I can’t. Yet.” Tony murmured, although the Elf and the other creature could hear him all the same.

“But she doesn’t know that, and the Gauntlet is the challenge.”

“What am I playing with here, Walker? What did you bet? What happens to the loser?” Tony felt strange, numb, as if the giddiness that he felt before had stolen room from a different feeling that wasn’t there.

“Afraid again? Do you want a helmet?”

“I look fantastic in a helmet, so drop it. What I want is to walk out of this place alive and on my own two legs, thank you.” It was difficult to feel anything but happy.

“Well, you’ll have to stay here for a few decades, hearing her gloat and working under her iron rule. Fitting, don’t you think?”

“Fit your jokes where you can, Flame boy. Is this going to be a problem or not?” Tony managed to muster a second of uneasiness before it disappeared.

“You’ll have to see for yourself. My pod to the south will leave without me if I don’t go now.”

“I don’t have time to be here forever!” Tony shouted before chuckling with hysteria, but he was unconcerned and it showed on his face.

“Then impress her. You said you are the best. Prove it.” Walker grinned with a strange confidence and Tony forgot about the numbness.

“Fine, but when you all have to rescue me because I _don’t know magic,_ I’m going to laser-print ‘I told you so’ on your forehead.”

Walker was listening and smiling for himself, but he was retreating like a coward; Natasha followed him before he could leave her behind. She started to whisper in his ear before they were out of sight. Those two were going to be so much trouble.

Tony was nervous; well, no, he wasn’t. He was eager to go but he was supposed to be nervous, he knew that. He was the best engineer on Earth, he knew that too, but he had only started to learn the smallest tendrils of the basic definitions of magic. He didn’t quite have the ego to think that he had mastered a new branch of unexplored science when there were eight realms with people who had been studying magic since before humanity invented fire; not to someone from out of Earth.

He would know more than all of them, eventually, he was Tony Stark, of course he would, but he wasn’t there yet. He couldn’t just show one of his inventions and call it a day.

Tony looked pleadingly at the Elf.

“He was kidding, right?”

“It is, indeed, quite frequent for challenges of skill to end with the loser working for the winner, although it is quite surprising that Smede Kirker would accept the terms.” The other creature who wasn’t an Elf answered; they had scales and a high pitched voice, Tony had overlooked them before.

Thor came back with Jane and formally presented the two creatures as Jane’s new portal teachers before leaving to visit the main city to announce the war plans properly. Bruce decided that he wanted to know more about the portals so he followed them to some observatory. The professors pointed Tony in the direction of the docks, where the Smede was supposed to be waiting for him next to one of the Dwarven portals.

“What do I do?” Tony said casually before they left him. “She is probably some crazy offended super strong forger. She’ll throw me to the forge when she realizes that I can’t magic. She is going to sacrifice me in some ritual to their God of iron or something!”

Jane and Bruce laughed at his words, they were not concerned; not even Tony was really concerned. They knew, logically, that he was getting into trouble, but for some reason they couldn’t care less. They were aware that something was not right, Tony had even seen Bruce up close and he had seen green on his hairline.

Tony was calm, he only had to be better at magic than an expert or somehow outsmart her. Which was a better solution, but still had the risk of getting caught and what did Elves do with liars? And how did one cheat at magic when magic was a complicated science? It was like cheating at astrophysics with the knowledge of a coloring book about the solar system that still had Pluto as a main planet. However, Tony could only giggle at the idea.

There was something wrong, something very worrying about them, and they couldn’t even complain, because worry simply slipped through their fingers like fine sand. They couldn’t muster any concern when Jane and Bruce left Tony to go alone to the docks while they went to the observatory, and despite his words, Tony didn’t look like he was concerned either.

It was too late when they realized that Walker and Natasha had left with their belongings in the pocket dimension. They found it hilarious and they had to use the strange instruments that the Fae let them use. Learning about the portals was quite interesting, even though they were interrupted by sporadic snickers and the Fae looked at them with strange faces.

Later, when they were done for the day with the portals and with the portal teachers, when the Fae showed them to their rooms, when they found no sign of Tony for hours, Jane and Bruce tried to hold on to the feelings of dread and guilt that were constantly washed away by the thought that everything would be alright. Somehow they ended laughing about a very different topic every few minutes.

Something was amiss, the memory of the pills from the golden apples didn’t leave them alone, but they were so thrilled that they couldn’t think straight. The possibility of a miscalculation in their dose was there, but it meant nothing when they were invited to dinner in the halls of one of the teachers, without Tony.


	17. Turn and Run

Jane and Bruce stayed in an awkward state between joy and worry during two days; they didn’t understand why none of the faes noticed, but humans were new, more or less, so they guessed that they thought it was normal. The humans tried to remind each other that there was something that they needed to be worried about, even though they couldn’t do anything about it, but it wasn’t easy. More often than not they let themselves be dragged to more amusing topics.

Tony didn’t appear in their lodgings the first night. The House of Guests wasn’t enough for the friends of an Odinson, so the families had offered to give them shelter in Aesir-style lodgings. Walker had arranged it that way, because Elves usually slept in common rooms with cushioned floors. The scientists had hoped to see Tony during the welcoming dinner to which they had been dragged, but the other human never appeared. Jane and Bruce couldn’t stay focused on one topic, much as they might have wanted. They forgot about Tony quite soon among laughter, but they did learn a lot about the city and about the working of Elven magic.

A lot of things were consumed that first night in every possible way, but Bruce and Jane had enough mind left to know not to worsen their condition, so they stuck to the safest-looking plates. The Elves were talkative after a couple of hours; apparently the portals were a very exclusive knowledge, and the city had something like a mafia mixed with a trading company. The pair of humans was received with luxury, since they had proved that they knew _some_ things about the portals that the Fae coveted. It also brought them some credence in front of the Elves (the reason why they were invited to the dinner halls at all) and it loosened their tongues.

The following days were a blur. Bruce was free to go and look for their missing friend while Jane entertained the mafia as she was supposed to do in order to learn about the portals, but there was always someone willing to distract Bruce, so he learnt how the docks worked, how the dome of leaves was the residential neighbourhood, with houses that were jutting from the sides, how the dome provided solar energy to those houses and how nobody remembered seeing a human running amok.

When Thor came back after finishing his negotiations, Jane and Bruce had expected to find the end to their problems, but they were proven wrong. They waited in the top of the tree-city, where the pods arrived. The humans were astonished by the view, excited about seeing Thor again, and only slightly worried about the huge problems that should be worrying them more. The wires connecting the island to solid ground were vital for the Elves and Thor had taken one because it was easy to get tired and lost in the middle of the sea. Rubbing elbows with the other people in the pod was an extra benefit.

In fact, Thor came back with some prestigious Elves and he introduced Jane to them. Most were from a tongue-twisting clan that she didn’t bother remember happyworried as she was. Some were from minor clans too, and she could only recognize a three or four of them from the Interrealm meeting in Asgard: The old one with red paint on the face, the young one that scurried away, the tall one with violet eyes, and the one with the hole on the front instead of the back.

She didn’t remember a single name, though, so she made up for it being charming to everyone. Bruce was similarly occupied, and for once, their forced glee helped them mingle until they had Thor alone. By then they had forgotten why they wanted to talk to Thor and the prince took the human’s unusual cheer as a common occurrence. He asked about Tony once, reminding them their troubles, but a group of young warriors came and asked Thor to teach them some hammer fighting moves, and he never refused.

In the short lapses, when Bruce could think gloomily, he wondered if Thor would ever realize that there was something wrong. Jane wasn’t as worried as Bruce; she knew Thor’s tells. She knew that Thor wasn’t as oblivious as he looked, she was sure that the god had noticed something wasn’t fine by the way he clasped her hand, but Thor didn’t show it until the next day.

In the morning, a group came around to tell the humans that the three foreigners needed to go with them. Thor stepped in and sent the group away with a "Certainly, we shall be along momentarily, my friends." in such a friendly way that it wouldn’t have looked out of place if someone offered to go grab a beer. That short display clued Bruce in too and he realized that Thor was probably waiting for Walker and Natasha before doing something that would alert their hosts.

The morning visit made Thor’s hackles rise and his protective side shine. Fortunately, he mentioned it to his companions before making a sudden decision, but he had wanted to take them back to Earth as soon as possible; keeping them safe before coming back to level the realm in search of their missing companions. Jane stood up for her own (gently, since she couldn’t physically be angry): “What did we say about precisely this topic not a week ago, Thor?” She forced her pleasant smile to convey that it wouldn’t be a smile if it was up to her.

Thor’s answer had been meek, but still worried. “You can protect yourself, and you can even protect me, given enough warning... and I can’t make decisions for you.”

“Good. Could this be Odin?” Jane asked with all the concentration she could muster.

Thor didn’t know, but Jane was determined to stay until the last second, and until they had some answers; Bruce agreed wholeheartedly. Bruce had discovered that slavery was not banned in the Nine Realms one of those times when someone had distracted with entertaining legislation; the Fae who had told him about the slaves had mentioned a shipment at the docks. Thor agreed that it was a priority place to start looking for Tony, before the ship went through a portal. Walker and Natasha could still be fine, but Tony was most definitely in trouble.

That conversation took a very long time, because Jane and Bruce couldn’t think straight and Thor didn’t know which were the correct questions, so he had to guess and derail the conversation many times. To add insult to injury, Thor wasn’t sure of who he could trust, so he had to remember that there could be ears in every wall and eyes in every shadow. Thor needed to look flippant even though one of his friends had vanished from the face of an alien planet and his other two friends were acting as if they were intoxicated day and night. Why was Walker taking so long to come back?

The docks were entertaining, but not very enlightening when they went to investigate. Elves murmured about problems in the city; the most recent rumor was about the Bethmoora clan interfering with some other clan. The trio didn’t pay attention. There wasn’t any slave ship on the docks, and they didn’t know if they were being told lies or if the ship had already sailed. Thor consulted the registry; there had been a slave ship a few days ago, but it had been used for illegal smuggling, and slaves were actually legal, so Tony couldn't have been on that ship, right?

At the mention of humans, the Bethmoora rumor appeared again with an interesting twist. Some of the sailors said that the Fae-mily could have taken the other human. There were no more explanations as to why, but the rumor was growing as they spoke, and it became more and more gruesome, so by the end of the day there would probably be a story about how someone had kidnapped the prince of Earth because human brains conferred immortality.

There was a kinder rumor in the docks, though, about two red-haired _seidr_ -assassins who had come back to the city to retrieve something. The three tourists of the Realm recognized the marginally apt description of Natasha and Walker, so they rushed to the main level of the giant tree, where the _seidr_ -assassins would need to be sooner or later, wherever they were headed.

The pair of redheads were the ones who noticed the rest of the group a few minutes later. Walker strutted with poise; Natasha was serious next to him in a more discrete posture. Jane realized that Walker wasn’t sporting the boyish smile that had seemed attached to him permanently; instead, he looked deeply worried. Then again, she hadn’t really met him without Tony being somewhere close, so maybe there was something to read into that.

Oh, but Natasha! She wasn’t giggling or even smiling, like Bruce and Jane were. She had been affected before she left, right? So why was she immune? They didn’t have the chance to ask, or to say hi really. Walker stopped next to Thor, whispering to his ear, and the Thunderer’s smile faltered before he could put on a mask. Jane had seen Thor fake his cheer effectively a lot of times, especially when in front of his teammates. Thor had led armies, and Odin had drilled into him a sense of being the figurehead of Odin’s ship. Thor always felt the need to cheer others into battle; some days Jane was furious that nobody thanked Thor for it.

Jane leaned against Thor slightly as a show of support, but looked straight at Walker and Natasha, trying to guess what had happened. Thor looked around and chose the path with the most people; he had been doing that for the whole day, to avoid finding themselves walking into a trap. He guided Bruce and Jane through the crowd loudly and boisterously, an arm around each of their shoulders.

The humans had adjusted themselves to the pulse of the city in a matter of days, Bruce a little better than Jane, since he had met a lot of people in his quest to find Tony, so he knew that the crowd at that time was caused by the students getting out of the underside, the hidden schools of forbidden arts, and leaving to have ‘fun’. The pair of humans hadn’t been invited to know what they meant by ‘fun’.

The five of them drew quite a lot of attention, despite the place being some kind of inter-realm port, and thus filled with other races; humans were still quite exotic (which had fueled Bruce and Jane’s fears of Tony having been sold into slavery). All manner of creatures turned their heads to stare at the group. Bruce and Jane had grown used to it, even though the feeling of being a circus freak never left their minds.

Thor and Walker seemed already used to that level of attention, which wasn’t strange, because Thor was a prince and Walker had traveled to many places where he was considered exotic. Natasha was the one who was suffering the most under the close attention, but one wouldn’t know it looking at her.

Thor took them to their lodgings, where the humans were expected to be at that time, and Walker made a gesture that silenced the noise of life that came from outside. It probably worked both ways.

“We have problems,” Natasha started. “Fae are not receptive at all. All but the Bug are preparing troops in all the wrong places. Elves think the Nine are joining forces to attack them; they are defensive.”

“Clans are moving unexpectedly.” Walker searched the adjacent room warily and with a hint of anxiety. “Is Stark still with the Smede Kirker?”

Jane half-smiled as someone finally made a direct question that tugged at that her slippery worry. “He has disappeared.” Walker stopped looking around.

“Gone,” Bruce confirmed with his own maniac smile.

Walker sent them a hard look and clenched his teeth. Natasha nodded as if confirming something that they had guessed. Walker turned and paced for a few seconds before seating on the border of one of their beds.

“She is too serious.” Bruce pointed at Natasha, unable to avoid the grin on his face.

“Walker put an air spell around me as soon as he noticed that the air has nitrous oxide,” Natasha answered, arms crossed.

“Laughing gas?” Bruce giggled. “We have been breathing laughing gas all this time?”

“It wasn’t the vaccine.” Jane smiled wider, and she wasn’t sure of how much of it was the gas.

“Can you spell us?” Bruce asked to the man who had his arms propped on his knees and the palms of his hands digging in his eyes. To Thor it felt strange, that a warrior would ask for magic help so freely.

“I can,” Walker said as if he were very far away, “but I won’t.”

Natasha looked at him like she was about to raise an eyebrow, Walker rolled his eyes and came back down to the mortal plane.

“Unlike you, they have been breathing it for too long. Once I put the spell, they will feel too miserable to function for a few hours, and I won’t let that happen until we know where Stark has gone.”

“Nitrous oxide is not that dangerous.” Jane tried to remember her chemistry lessons, but she looked at Bruce to confirm it.

“Not physically, but the mind suffers greatly,” Walker explained. “A healer would use gentler methods, but I’m no healer, and we won’t go to one of theirs willingly.”

“Why not?” Thor questioned.

Natasha explained. “We thought everything would fine when we found out about the air. We had expected someone to notice your symptoms and put a stop to them before we were back. If they haven’t, it’s because they wanted you this way. Probably to get more information out of you, or maybe to keep you pliant and distracted.”

“Why?” Jane frowned and smiled. The combination was unsettling.

“We shouldn’t discuss this here. We need to move.” Walker stood up. “Tell me what you know about Stark; I’ll put the spell in place, and Miss Romanoff and I will keep looking.”

Bruce told him about the trashed workshop he had found when he tried to visit the smith; Jane told him about the Bethmoora rumors; Thor explained the situation with the slave-ships, the docks and the group who had come knocking that morning. Walker exchanged a look with the Widow.

“He must have met Lady Kirker, or her workshop wouldn’t be in that condition,” Walker told her.

“All the rooms were trashed, it wasn’t just a fight,” Bruce felt the need to add. “I know Tony; there are only two things that could have made him leave an alien workshop. Either a better workshop, or someone in danger.”

“There is an observatory at the top of the canopy, but ours are better. The twenty-four hours of light in this planet don’t help astronomy,” Jane mentioned.

“Danger, then?” Thor asked dubiously.

“Imagine if he heard about the slave-ships, and was as high on nitrous oxide as we are," Jane countered.

Walker remembered someone telling him that he had to stop visiting the dungeons of every Realm he went to. If Stark was as reckless as he seemed, the dungeons of the city would be a good place to start looking for him.

“There is a criminal storage in one of the sides of the trunk.” He directed the Widow; they had found a balance and she didn’t mind following his lead when it suited her. “We’ll find a way to enter.”

“Can you stop this now?” Jane requested.

“Yes, but Thor should stand guard outside,” Thor nodded, crossed his arms and looked worriedly at Jane.

“If someone asks, all plants here are poisonous to humans, they got food poisoning.” Natasha instructed curtly.

“Why the lie?” Bruce squinted.

“Sneak in as many lies as possible,” she said in lieu of a real answer. “We have seen that only the Elves with the Bug are preparing something for the war with Thanos; the other Elves won’t be allies any time soon, so it is better if they don’t know what to expect from humans.”

Walker made a gesture with his hands, but Stark was not there to see the lemon-smelling thaums, so it looked like exaggerated sign language to the rest of the room. As soon as the spell settled, Bruce and Jane lost their smiles and their expressions went instantaneously blank and then spiralled downwards. Walker and Natasha could almost see the crushing sadness that was about to overcome them, and they had a perfect excuse to leave, so they left Thor with the emotional downfall while they escaped.

They didn’t talk much on their way there. Natasha had been keeping a close eye on Loki, at least at the beginning, and she had been keeping track of names, places, and portals to double check everything at the first opportunity. She had trusted Loki enough to use his breathing spell, out of necessity, but she had been testing the waters and she was moderately convinced that Loki wasn’t going to sell anybody out, at least not until he was out of danger.

They had realized that they were in trouble mid-journey. The clan families had started to move against them and there were even higher powers involved that they hadn’t been able to identify yet. For a few terrifying hours, they had thought that Thanos had found them.

A little old-fashioned spying had proved that there was someone from the Nine involved; someone who was targeting humans. The clan families had jumped in the wagon of capturing them, even though the reason wasn’t clear, could be either loyalty, money or something else. They’d have to investigate a little more once they left what turned out to be an underwater jail.

Natasha didn’t enjoy their visit to that ‘criminal storage’. They were let in easily enough to the underwater facility that looked frail enough to collapse if a fish bumped too hard against it. But that could very well be the truth, since that meant that any revolt would end with a flooded building and a lot of deaths that nobody would mind. Natasha also noticed the cells: the occupants were as varied as a zoo. There were some Faes, a lot of Dwarves and quite a lot of creatures who looked out of place in Alfheim. Curiously enough, there was only the odd Elf. Good to know that hatred was not an exclusively human trait, but sad all the same.

The reason Natasha was able to snoop around was the guard; he had agreed to talk with Walker just fine, but he had sneered every time Natasha opened her mouth. So she listened, inspected, planned the guard’s mental murder, studied the cells of the outer ring and they learnt that two people had escaped a couple of days ago. The escapees had been captured in the first place when one of them had tried to sneak into one of the ships.

“That’s a minor and usual offense in these ports,” Loki frowned. “Why were they contained for more than a few hours?”

“One was human, we were looking for his owner before letting him go.” The guard shrugged, utterly unconcerned.

“That makes no sense, Thor has been here, the other humans were there, they could have responded for him.” Loki was surprisingly serious.

Natasha had seen him being perfectly charming with any Elf that could be helpful, but maybe there was no reason to keep the pretense now. It could also mean that Loki was distraught and seriousness was his coping mechanism, which would be nice data to add to her collection of Loki’s weak spots.

“That is not my concern; maybe they were in someone’s list somewhere, maybe it was the Bug,” the guard said vaguely. “There is some patrol to do those things. Blame them for not finding the human’s owner.” Natasha had to remind herself that ownership didn’t mean the same in Alfheim before she was tempted to extract the truth out of the guard by force.

“Where are they now?” Loki asked, still unflapped.

“They tried to escape with a pod through the higher levels, but we scared them off,” the guard said with scorn. Natasha noted how the patrol who failed was _them,_ but the ones who had succeeded in scaring the pair was _we._ The spy was noticing more and more human traits on the aliens. “We think they hid under the roots, but we have only found traces of someone being there. They must be still on the island, since the portals are heavily guarded.”

“What about the Bethmoora clan?” Loki pushed. “On our way here we were told that they could have the human.”

“Indeed. They came to the city at the same time as the Aesir prince, the pair had already escaped by then, but our boys lost their trace in that moment. If that human has left the island with them, he must be branded and warming one of their beds by now.” The guard had a salacious tone like he wanted Loki to partake on the joke.

“Nu vse, ty pizda,” Natasha muttered for herself. She very carefully didn’t look in the direction of the guard, but she wondered if flooding the prison and killing the inmates would be worth it if it meant that the guard went down with them.

“Can we see their cell?” To Natasha’s relief, Loki sounded still serious and unamused. Going along with the joke would have benefitted them, but Natasha wasn’t thinking about their cover. This meant that Loki was actually concerned and using a mask of seriousness to hide it; much like she was.

“Why?” the guard asked bemused.

Natasha saw Loki breathing deeply. To anyone else it would look like exasperation; she could see that Loki was taking his time to think a lie and compose a mask. They had been using this lie for long enough to recognize what came now.

“Humans have a keen sense of smell; she might pick up their scent,” Loki lied pointing at Natasha. They had been dropping misinformation like that everywhere they went, so she didn’t even blink. “This one is a bit more civilized, but I think the one you had here was part of a pack, one of the savage ones;, I think they are called the Avengers.”

The guard looked interested, but he guided them to the cell without question. Loki continued. Natasha had smirked and contributed to the lies when they were hunting portals; it was amusing. In that moment she didn’t feel like contributing; she felt more like setting the guard on fire. Loki kept going with the fiction and Natasha wondered if Loki used lies as a way of evading pain, it would make sense.

“Savages is not enough to describe what they do, really. Very protective of their own and their freedom. I hear one of them, in a Berserker rage, managed to defeat an Aesir warrior and warlock who had merely suggested a change of leadership. And they are vindictive, of course, they wouldn’t have that name otherwise. I can’t imagine what they will do to everyone who helped to directly contain one of theirs.”

Finally Natasha hid a little smile. She still wanted to trash the Elf, but his sudden and frankly terrified face made it easier to focus on retrieving Tony. Loki ushered the guard away alleging human customs and the guy didn’t have the courage to cross another human, just in case.

“What now?” Loki asked as soon as they were left alone.

She looked around and decided to use the ace that Loki had given them by describing humans so vividly in front of so many inmates. She went to the creature in the closest cell and she asked in her most fearsome tone of voice. Unlike the guard, the inmate didn’t look cowed, but he did look like he respected the feral glint in her eyes.

The hybrid -or at least Natasha thought he was a Shek-Dwarf hybrid- told her that Tony was known because rumors said he wanted to destroy the Nine.

“There were rumorss, about ssomeone sstealing the infinity sstoness,” the prisoner explained.

“Who is saying this?” Natasha asked.

“The previouss ownerss of the sstoness.”

“Who says that the human is the one stealing them?” Loki interrupted.

“Well, Odin hass trouble with humanss, it had to be one of the humanss invited. Why would the AllFather invite them otherwissse? And the human liked magic, it was obviouss.”

“But Asgard was the first time Tony was out of his home realm, the thefts were previous to that.” Natasha tried to understand why Elves were being so easily fooled.

“Who knowss what humanss are capable of?” the inmate sent her a pointed look.

“But why would he want to destroy the Nine?”

“Someone said that he courts death,” said the occupant of the next cell ominously.

“He what?!” Loki exclaimed, recognizing the title and bemused at the wrong association.

“It was one of his names,” the woman in the opposite cell added, “Enchanter of Death.”

“How did this get so mangled?” Loki muttered to Natasha. “Thanos is the one who courts death. Stark was-”

Natasha noticed the general interest in Loki’s mutterings when he mentioned Thanos. It seemed like some of them knew what they were talking about and they were finally piecing it together with what they had heard from other sources.

“A nobody!” she interrupted before they would figure out too much. “He was just a curious human who came with us. Part of Lady Jane’s… entourage, since she will be queen of Asgard one day.”

Loki noticed their audience too. “Which family is spewing such falsehoods?” he asked to the room at large.

“The Keijukainen family,” answered different voices.

Walker looked complicitly at Natasha and choose to tell again the lie that they had been spreading when they realized that Elves were passing around rumors.

“Well, there is some truth in that; there is a prophecy that says that Thanos will succeed in destroying the Nine, starting with Earth. Frigga pronounced it with her dying breath.”

Elves hated destiny and they loved defying prophecies, solely because Asgard loved fulfilling them. Loki had told Natasha this one of their first days investigating the Realm. While the elves would do anything to see one of Frigga’s visions destroyed, Thanos was the kind of conqueror interested in unreliable sciences, and foresight was one of those. In that way, Thanos reminded Natasha of other famous conquerors from Earth. If Thanos got wind of a prophecy that foretold his success, there was a chance of him following the saying to see it completed.

She listened as Loki told the newly written legend and admired his careful inflexion.

The prophecy that she and Loki had invented said that the skies would be clear the day of Humanity’s sundown and Thanos’ rise; he would be victorious without much fight, humans wouldn’t be able to fight him, he would collect the first stone there, in the legendary human city of La Rinconada and he would collect a stone from each Realm, getting more powerful with each stone, the Aesir, the Darves, the Elves would have to bow to them.

“Lies! The Elves bow to nobody!” shouted one of the few Elf prisoners.

“They will when Thanos gets his pink hands on the first stone.” Loki answered, a tad mournfully.

Natasha knew that Loki had something else in mind and she had grown comfortable enough to ask directly as soon as they left the place, already hearing the rumors spread before they even left the building.

“These prisoners are to be released in a few days, they will spread rumors faster than any other way,” Loki said, expecting her questions.

“There is more in your mind.”

“The clan they mentioned will rather see Stark dead if they think that he is a problem. The other clans will act alone and uncoordinated. We won’t be able to keep an eye on him at all times, suspicious in every realm we visit, keeping an eye on everything he eats and drinks, if we even find him. We need to deflect attention.”

“What about the stones? There are six, not nine, right? Why do you always tell the lie with nine stones?”

“Only five exist now. However, stories are not made of truths, but of things that any idiot can remember. Nine realms, nine stones.”

“And why Frigga? I thought any prophet would do.”

“She… Elves hate her. She is seen as a Vanir traitor, and they hate her prophecies with vitriol. Thanos on the other hand, is known for treading the edges of truth;, he will believe a prophecy sooner than his spies, especially if there is a well-known name attached to it. And thinking he knows the outcome will make fighting him easier.”

“What about the clan? Why are the Keijukainen so special?”

“They are the closest family to Odin. He must have been the one instigating them to target humans.”

“Which Odin?” Natasha asked cheekily.

“Unfortunately, it must have been the real Odin. This will mean a lot of trouble for our plans. He is more powerful than I though; even without being on the throne he can influence the clans.”

“We need to track Tony. He doesn’t know this place well enough to hide, he must be wherever the smith is, but we can’t dismiss the other options. The Bethmoora or the Keijukainen could have him.”

“I’m not sure the Bethmoora have anything to do with this. I believe the name of the clan changed from mouth to ear, maybe it is only the Keijukainens working with Odin. And they would hand Tony to Odin immediately.

“Why Tony?”

“Because he was alone,” Loki took a second to deduce. “Jane had Thor’s protection and you were with me. I guess someone warned the Realms about the Hulk, but Stark was an easy prey.”

“Stark is not defenseless.”

“Well, of course,” Loki said, as if Natasha had insulted his intelligence. “He has managed to escape an Elven dungeon and hide from them for days.”

Natasha sighed. “But he was breathing the same air as we were. He would lose the two neurons of self preservation he has if someone told him about the slaves while breathing that.”

“Like your Captain.”

“Like Steve, yes.”

The odd pair climbed back the steps on the root to reach the main citadel. Natasha shared her plan: “Thor and Jane should go upfront and ask the clans. They have diplomatic immunity. Meanwhile, we will try something else.”

Loki hummed and agreed. “Do tell me something, Little Spider, why did you choose that city? I thought you would go for an empty place, that Chernobyl you mentioned.”

“Tactical advantage. La Rinconada is the highest city in the world, and one of the most isolated places you can find. Not to mention the mines. If Thanos wants the fake stone, he will have to come down and do it himself. We can prepare the place and evacuate the civilians before Thanos attacks. Now let me ask you a question. Slavery?”

“Slavery exists under heavy restrictions, conditions, regulations, fair trade and treatment… Slavery was very common a few centuries ago, but now it is considered inelegant; servants are in fashion, because they prove that you can pay them, while slaves only consume wealth. The most common use in this time is as presents. They are what you, humans, call white elephants.”

“Why isn’t it outlawed?”

“Slavery will exist. Banning it only makes it more difficult to find and eradicate. Ridiculous taxes and regulations to maintain slaves well fed and healthy keep it under control much better than any prohibition. Tell me, Widow, can you assure me that there is no maner of slavery in your own planet? can you tell me that the slaves there are treated better than beasts?”

Natasha’s wrist itched, but she didn’t answer and she didn’t scratch the phantom feel of cuffs. The rest of the walk to the lodgings was silent; they knew there were spies tailing them in crowded streets.

When they came back to report, Loki and Natasha found a god and two humans with red-rimmed eyes. Loki rolled his eyes hard. They were supposed to stay away from each other, Thor was supposed to stand guard instead of talking with them. There was a reason Loki had mentioned that they would be too devastated to function. But nobody ever listened.

So their report went between sniffles and pessimistic questions. They should have been overjoyed; they had reasons to believe that Stark was in the island roaming free and hiding with a native. Safe. Loki had felt significantly better knowing that, even if the man was still technically missing.

“But,” Thor said towards the end, “the Bethmoora didn’t come with me, I only met them in the capital. It was mainly the Keijukainen who came in the same transport pod.” Loki sent an _I told you so_ over his shoulder to Natasha before Thor finished. “The only Bethmoora in the pod was their little one, and he didn’t look like he planned to harm Tony.”

“There was one of them in the pod?” Loki asked incredulous. “They hardly ever leave the capital unless there is something big going on.”

“What does it mean?” Bruce asked. Despite the change of air and the emotional turmoil, he looked unburdened for once. Huh, maybe the emotional discharge in a safe place, without needing to call the Hulk, had been actually good for him.

“It means that we need to find him before we start a clan-war.” Natasha was standing by the door, defensive. “All the bets are off now.”

Jane was too tired, but Thor could still use a glamour to visit the Keijukainen alone that evening. Loki and Natasha decided to stay, because someone needed to make sure Jane and Bruce were _only_ exhausted after the emotional rollercoaster.

Thor left on his great mission (he was getting used to not needing his hammer in missions); the humans were taciturn, sleepy, and silent, just listening to whatever Natasha and Loki deigned to share. So the situation wasn’t as different as it had been for the last days between the two liars.

The silence in the guest quarters was more tense, though. There were questions that they had been able to ask freely when the others weren’t listening. Loki had discovered that Natasha was quite receptive to questions when she was assured that she’d get an answer too. They had found a comfortable partnership. They had avoided a repeat of the helicarrier interaction, learning from their mistakes, even though their conversations were still mind-games, it had become a personal code. Maybe Loki should worry that he found himself so at home between enemies, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Thus, when the night fell and it was slightly darker outside, Thor brought all the conversation that the evening had lacked. Thor was no spy, but he was a charming character who drew sympathies easily. The Keijukainen had told him that Odin was worried about his son, because he might be with bad company.

Thor knew that Odin hadn’t been worried about Thor’s company since that memorable occasion when the Allfather had seen him with Alan-maidens when he was very young, so there had to be more to it, but the Keijukainen eldest witcher had admitted that they had sent the patrol looking for the humans. They also told Thor that they had not been able to find the escaped human and that they had been the ones to keep Tony and the forger in the underwater prison until they disappeared.

They never told Thor what Odin had promised in exchange for the humans; instead they claimed that they acted out of concern for the young prince. Natasha was aware of the lies, Loki was aware of the lies, everyone knew it was a lie, and Natasha confirmed it when she went out for a few minutes and came back telling them that they had very unsubtle spies just outside, maybe even asgardians, but she wasn’t completely sure.

Loki considered it terrible news. The Keijukainen must have already informed Odin. That was the only possible reason why the Fae family was giving all that information so freely. Their peculiar party had to get out of reach of Odin’s connections as soon as possible, but none of them wanted to leave before getting Tony back. They were risking much with every hour that they spent in the same Realm; Odin would send someone to get Loki, not Walker, and then Loki would need to explain himself, or worse, Odin might come himself.

Natasha made a valiant effort when she remembered the Iron Man suit in Loki’s pocket dimension, but when they tried, the reduced version of Jarvis informed them that his reach without satellites was rather short, and he couldn’t get around any magic disruptions: he couldn’t find Tony either.

“What if…” Jane wondered aloud where she had almost passed out of exhaustion. “We could walk around the island and see if the suit is close enough to Tony to pick something up. That should work without the satellites.”

Natasha and Loki looked at each other.

“It could work, but I want to try to visit that Bethmoora child that Thor mentioned first; we could bring the suit to check,” Loki wondered. He hated making plans in the spur of the moment.

“You know where to find him?” Thor goaded.

“Not yet, but he must have signed the registry, he must be getting food for three somewhere if he has them, he must have somewhere to sleep,” Loki saw Natasha nod approvingly. Strangely enough, Loki knew that he’d miss her once the fight was over.

Loki dismissed the thought and walked to the other room; there was nothing there but the same strange bed. Loki inspected the magic lights closely until he found a spot he liked. Then he picked some cables from one of the human machines that he had stored in his pocket dimension and a couple of crystals. He made a makeshift battery like the ones Tony had made in his workshop. It was such a simple design that no witcher set to guard them would notice Loki using it.

“I will find out and I’ll come for Agent Romanoff and the iron suit. Be prepared, we will try to leave tonight.”

“Wait, Walker, but where are we going to go?” Thor tried to stop him. “We can’t use the pods and they have their best ferdamadur controlling the portals.”

“This Realm has not seen a good ferdamadur yet.” Then Loki tapped into the magic of the light to make his escape without being noticed.

“He is worse than Tony.” Natasha looked unimpressed at the spot where Loki had been.

Loki spent several hours going from the registry to the market, to the travellers’ inn, to the docks again and to the pods arrivals. It seemed like the little Bethmoora was well trained to hide himself, but Loki had spent long enough in the city to know about the holes in the wall. That only left the problem of the glamour that the Elf was using to hide himself. It was well past midnight before Loki came back to the human’s lodgings.

“He is hiding in the Ringed Redoubt. His glamour is misleading me, but Stark’s machine won’t be affected; we need to leave now.”

Natasha jumped to action immediately.

“What about us?” Thor asked.

“Pretend to walk to the docks, to the side of the Dwarfs. As long as they think one of us is here they won’t give themselves away.”

“The fight starts when they realize the rooms are empty.” Thor summarized.

Loki nodded and positioned himself and Natasha with the iron suitcase next to the light spot. “Good fortune to you.”

“Bring him back.” Bruce said as farewell.

Natasha didn’t enjoy the trip nor the fall next to something like a streetlamp, but they were close to the main square, what they called the Ringed Redoubt. There was not much to mention that she hadn’t seen in one city or other, but the suitcase beeped loudly in her hand, so she and Loki half-ran, looking at the machine instead of their surroundings, as per Loki’s instructions. Soon enough, there was a tower in front of them, even though it hadn’t been there a couple of steps back.

There was an obvious door, and there was noise coming from inside. Natasha let the suit go and Jarvis assembled it next to them. Then they forced the door open; the scene inside was too domestic for the situation at hand.

“Told you it would be them!” Tony shouted jumping from the table where the Smede Kirker was almost hiding behind her plate and the youngest of the Bethmoora seemed to have been caught flirting with the forger.

Loki _knew_ that particular Bethmoora.

“I’m a bit disappointed, guys, Limpet here rescued me before you even started to worry, although I haven’t been able to worry myself for a while, in fact, I’m not disappointed, but I know what I’d be.”

“Oh!” The young Bethmoora came closer, ignoring Tony’s welcoming rant. “I hadn’t expected _you_.”

He had a malicious but playful smile on his childish face when he looked at Loki. He stepped between Tony and the god, uncomfortably close to Tony in Natasha’s opinion. She didn’t know what was the history there, but they didn’t have time to solve personal matters.

“We need to leave.” Natasha murmured, still not sure she wouldn’t have to fight anyone soon.

“We have to take Chun-Li with us,”Tony said over the elf’s head. “They have seen her with me, won’t leave her alone.”

Natasha looked at the woman who had stood up and approached without drawing any attention to herself. She looked shy and she was wearing the pinkest dress Natasha had ever seen, but it also looked conveniently sturdy. The woman had tanned, uneven skin, she was also quite tall, taller than Natasha by far, and she had the arms of a wrestler combined with a delicate-looking pair of hands covered in scars. All in all, Natasha didn’t need to guess who was the forger.

“What about him?” Natasha nodded to the young Elf.

“Nobody knows I am here, I’ll go back home as soon as you take this walking temptation away from my hands.” The boy looped an arm around Stark’s hip, leaned his head on Stark’s shoulder and looked straight at Loki. Tony seemed to be so elated by their visit that he didn’t care, or maybe the Elf was naturally over enthusiastic with touch and Tony had grown accustomed. “It is such a crime to the Nine that you two don’t hand invitations to your bed.” The young elf said with a pouty voice.

“Everybody knows the youngest of the Bethmoora is here.” Natasha _didn’t need to know more_ , they needed to _rush_.

“Correction.” The small Elf turned to her. “Everybody knows that the youngest of the Bethmoora is in the island under his teacher’s care. Nobody will even blink when I leave.” The Elf’’s attention was then on the suit of armor. “Hey! I know you too. Had I known it was a head instead of a helmet… no, I would have used it in the same way.”

“We need to _leave_.” Natasha hissed.

Loki turned his attention from the little Elf and said “Smede Kirker, I’m glad of seeing you again, are you coming with us as Stark suggests?”

“Ferdamadur Walker, I’m afraid it’s as he says, I can’t stay here. I’ve made at least one friend among the Dwarves who will shelter me, but I need to get there first.”

“Wait.” The little Elf ran to some stairs at the back of the room and came back with a drawstring bag and some old-fashioned keys. “You two should pick up your things, terribly rude of you, to make your friends wait like this.”

The woman moved upstairs like she had been shocked, Natasha guessed that she had some baggage, but as long as it didn’t interfere with their plans, it wasn’t her business. Tony on the other hand, jumped from here to there putting pieces of paper and small machines in the first bag he could find. Once that floor had been cleared of all his things, he went after the forger, to the rooms upstairs, but he spoke over his shoulder.

"We have been working on the Gauntlet, Walker!” Tony beamed, looking entirely too pleased with the situation. “She uses the light radiation of this planet to thread thaums on a quantum level and then forges the waves in easy-resistance patterns on the metal. It is like an internal wiring for magic, you would have loved it. Tell me to show you when we are back."

Tony disappeared upstairs and Natasha noticed that the Elf had an unguarded, fond expression on his face.

“Are you coming then?” she asked the bag-carrying boy.

“Just to the front door, dear,” he patted her arm. “I have to say goodby! Who knows when the masters will let me leave the realm again!” Loki wouldn’t accept that as an answer, so he crossed his arms, waiting until the Elf conceded a better reply. The Elf chuckled at their distrust. “I had planned to use my glamours to help you all escape when you finally came. People will be on the lookout for Aesir magic; I can give you some measure of discretion.”

“That is a fairly well-planned strategy. Why are you doing this?” Loki inquired.

“That was exactly the first thing I asked too!” Tony shouted climbing down the stairs with a second bag on his shoulder. “And that little minx told me that he hadn’t been able to stop the betting in Asgard as he promised me, so he wanted to compensate me. And I thought _Well, then someone got lucky in Asgard and I don’t know who_ , but we slept with the doors open for security, so how?”

“He told you that and you just believed him?” Natasha berated him.

“Of course not! but we didn’t have much choice. Being a reclusive Smede doesn’t open as many doors as you’d think.” Tony pointed back at the stairs.

“Wait, you didn’t believe me?” The Elf looked genuinely surprised.

“No! No diplomat offers a strings-free deal!” Tony said with a smile and the experience of many decades sidestepping political traps.

“Then why is he doing it?” Natasha asked Tony, but with her eyes fixed on the Elf.

“Because you and your acolytes are finally changing things!” The small thing threw his hands in the air. “Everything will keep changing after the war, I want to be there when the maelstrom arrives.” The Elf shrugged and played with the keys in his hands. “Most of the clan is busy building their nets of debts. I guess I’m starting in a different direction, since the war with the Dwarves, our frontiers are trenches. I guess I see more future on the other side of the trenches than here.”

“So we will owe you?” Loki said carefully.

“I don’t like the old traditions, I’ve found that there is too much distrust in it.” The boy tapped his foot on the floor distractedly, waiting for the forger.

“Then what?” Natasha demanded.

“You would consider it a friendship, probably. I have not learnt about that yet. In elven terms, you are all mine.”

“Like toys, or tools.” Natasha tried to make a more specific comparison.

“I think he is quite accurate with friends,” Tony looked at Loki and Loki nodded slowly, as if he couldn’t believe it either.

The forger came down the stairs with a big bag herself. They headed to the docks as soon as the little Elf put the glamour on them, but the way there was quite interesting. It wasn’t as enjoyable for Loki, who glared daggers at the little Elf when nobody was looking. For the trickster, it was obvious that the boy was using Stark’s state to get close to him, and it worked, because the inventor had an arm around the Elf’s shoulders, like a drunk idiot.

“You are the Bug.” Natasha said unexpectedly, startling Loki.

The Elf did a smug little courtesy and Tony asked, “What was that about a Bug?”

“We have been traveling,” Natasha explained. “Many of the clans are defensive regarding the Nine; one clan is close to Odin and seems to be trying to hunt us down. We thought the Bug was the only clan that had been moving assets to fight Thanos, but it turned out that there is no Bug clan. The Bug is someone with a lot of resources working for our interests.”

“How did you know it was me?” The smiling boy crossed his arms, interested despite himself-

“Your speech about change and trenches,” she pointed out. “Your men and women are repeating it around every town and every market, but you sound like you can elaborate on the theme more than they do.”

“She must like you!” said Tony. “She usually smiles her creepy smile and doesn’t answer.”

“Excuse me, but I am worried about Smede Stark.” It looked like it had taken the forger a lot of strength to speak up even those few words. “I don’t know him as you do, but I’ve seen other creatures be affected by the air in this way. Isn’t there something you can do about it? Didn’t you bring a kulpa with you?”

“No, we didn’t,” it sounded like admitting a mistake was paining Loki to the core. “Aesir plant charms and spells on their newborns so they never need to fear. Thor and I forgot that other realms don’t do it.”

Tony went to talk to Kirker about their life support, and Loki used that moment to turn all the anger on the little Elf in an unusual moment of weakness. “I will know if you did something untoward as soon as we get rid of this air,” he hissed. “Thanos will be a pleasant dream when I’m done with you if I find that you did something to him.”

The Elf blinked, then blinked again, scrunched his face, and raised his voice. “Say, my humanling.” Stark turned his head from talking to Kirker in an automatic response, because apparently both of them had nicknames for each other. “What did I tell you when I noticed that you were travelling without a kupla?”

“Huh… you had been flirting, like always really, then you jumped away from me like a cat from water and said something along the lines of ‘from what kind of underevolved species do you hail, you humanoid scum?’ or something.” Stark looked around trying to figure out why the Elf was asking that, and he noticed Walker’s unconcerned stance. Sure, unconcerned his ass. “Anyway, he called me names, or at least I think all that gibberish was calling me names, for crossing an unregulated portal without some kind of life support, then he turned off his sexy glamour, which is a piss poor glamour, Limpet, it didn’t affect me even high as a kite.”

The Elf grunted softly next to Loki, who was looking at the Elf in a new light. Suddenly he didn’t mind the Limpet’s affectionate advances towards Tony at all. It surprised Natasha a great deal. She had thought it was a bout of jealousy on the trickster’s part, but his reaction was even better and much much worse: he had been worried and now he looked like he was even grateful. Natasha wondered if Loki was aware of it.

Tony continued talking.

“All your other glamours and magics are cool, though. He has been the best flirty Elf assistant I’ve ever had. Like an alien Dum-e, except I didn’t make Limpet. I don’t think so...” Tony looked mock-suspiciously at the Elf.

The young man looked amused and exasperated at the same time. “I’m older than you, my humanling, and I have a detailed list of all the parents who contributed to making me, believe me, you are not a part of it.”

“You already told me about your family, thank you, I’m not interested in a repeat. Did you know that male elves can get pregnant?” Tony turned around to find someone who cared, Jane and Bruce would have cared; the rescue party was such a difficult audience. Tony’s eyes went to the other alien who was an alien but not an Elf and he started to _think_.

“Back to the question, we won’t change the air Tony is breathing yet,” Natasha said before Tony could say something he’d really regret. “The sudden deprivation of the gas will be hard, and we need to escape first.”

“Cold turkey again, wonderful,” Tony muttered with a smile.

Natasha was having a hard time reading Tony’s face. He seemed content and easily distracted, but there might have been a rictus of fear under the laughing gas. Natasha wouldn’t be surprised if Tony was scared; she hadn’t been there when Tony gave up the other addictions, but she _had_ helped him when he gave up drinking. She had seen much worse, but it had been ugly.

They made their way downstairs, where the perpetual sunset played with the greenish water of the docks. They saw Bruce, Jane and the bigger bulk of Thor walking along the wooden planks; the two humans still looked tired and Thor walked stiffly. From their vantage position, still half a root over the water level, it was obvious that their friends were being followed.

“And here we say our goodbyes,” the boy shuffled, apparently coy, but with an impish smpile. “unless you want the Bug to be identified and captured.”

Tony ruffled the boy’s hair and hugged him with one arm, Smede Kirker approached to say her goodbyes, but the Elf took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist before winking. “I hope you’ll be able to come back home one day.”

Kirker nodded with a sad smile, the young Elf stepped backwards with a spring on his step, and the group under his glamour tensed to fight the spies on the docks. “Remember my name if you ever decide to invite someone to your bed!” The Elf winked one last time before going in the opposite direction and leaving them unprotected.

They remained still in the shadow of a cabin, waiting until he was far enough to spare him unnecessary suspicion.

“Hey, Stark, what is his name exactly?” Loki whispered.

Tony remained silent for a second. “Limpet?”

“Pity.” Walker didn’t seem surprised, then again, he had warned them about nominal magic.

Tony breathed slowly. Limpet had been great protecting Kirker and him, and the gas was making him unreasonably happy, but he couldn’t help but feel like a too-tense bowstring inside. Meeting Kirker, the light radiation, the feeling of being high, the slaves, the persecution, the jail, the lies, the escape, the persecution the sequel, the exhilaration when hiding, the enlarged happiness when Limpet appeared, the relocation… So Tony wanted everything to stop, but now he knew that if he wanted to stop he would have to ride some kind of withdrawal.

Tony had been able to work almost normally with the alien air in his lugs because he was used to hiding such things from cameras, his father, Pepper…He didn’t mind going through the motions, acting was easy, but he felt wrong thinking about the future through the fog. So he breathed slowly and thought about present to act in consequence. It made everything easier.

Only then did Tony start to question Walker and Nat’s escape plan. “Do we have a destination in mind?”

“Any of the Dwarven portals,” Walker pointed at the area Thor was patrolling.

“It has to be Völlom,” Tony nodded, falling into metaphorical step easily enough with unnatural cheer.

“Why?” Natasha peered from the other side of the cabin.

“Someone offered me sanctuary there.” Tony took a pearl from his pocket. “Once there, you need to give this to Gyöngy of the Királyok. Tell her it’s a pearl from the forger. She’ll understand.”

“Wait, Smede Stark, you sound as if you were thinking of staying behind,” the forger said alarmed.

Tony shook his head. “But I know myself quite well. I won’t be fun to be around when we cross the portal and I run out of gas.”

Walker took the pearl from his hand confidently. “Völlom.” He directed Tony’s gaze to one of the middle platforms. “That one is our best chance.”

“What do we do about the guards,” Natasha asked in her monotone way.

“They are trained portal masters who can draw energy from the portals. Thor can take one or two, I can take the rest if it comes to that, but I hope I’ll be able to distract them.”

Walker looked at Tony and almost telegraphed his thoughts: happily manic, useless. The forger, strong but not a warrior, useless. Only Natasha and the Iron Man suit that had been following them obediently could be of some use. “I’ll make copies of us fleeing to Asgard, but it won’t be long until they feel my magic,” he said finally.

“You and Thor can engage them. I will make sure that the rest are safe.”

Tony looked from Natasha to Walker with hurt in his eyes, but he knew he didn’t have a drop of fight in him in that moment. That was exactly why he had been captured sneaking into the slave-ship in the first place. Walker moved to hide behind a different cabin in a different platform and he made a gesture to attract Thor’s attention; the show was about to start.

Natasha prepared to run, but she felt a hand on her arm.

“Wait, Natasha, you have been with him for days. What’s the deal?” Natasha sent him a sad look before putting her attention back on the labyrinth of planks over the water. Tony huffed. “I’m not asking you to spill the beans,” he whispered. “You and I know that you are a badass assassin, but your strong point has always been secrets, and I won’t make you drop your best weapon at my feet. I trust you with any secret you want to keep. We are a team, if you have a weapon, it only means that you’ll have our reckless backs… But I need to know about him.”

Natasha held her breath. She had worked on teams countless times and people trusted and respected her during the mission, it was nice that the Avengers did exactly that in every possible situation.

“I don’t trust him,” she finally conceded. “We should lock him up as soon as we are done with Thanos; I have enough information to do it, but until then… you can be sure that he’ll make travelling with him the safest place in the universe… for you. Not so much for the rest of us.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t go fishing for more, you have your answer.”

The sorcerer, source of half of Natasha’s headaches, signaled for Thor to come meet him and ran in his direction. Jane and Bruce were confused by Thor’s sudden sprint. Natasha came out of the shadows and guided the humans into hiding with Tony and Kirker, throwing a couple of spies into the water in her way there. No time to incapacitate or kill.

They had been hidden, but the guards of the docks and the spies had seen Jane and Bruce joining them and were now surrounding the platform of their cabin. Natasha made a gesture to Loki, who saw her despite being involved fighting with a couple of guards, and directed his magic their way.

The humans and the Elf saw how replicas of them and the Iron Man suit burst out of the cabin full speed to the portals on the opposite side. Walker and Thor seemed to be headed in the same direction, but Natasha guided the group discretely from platform to platform until they saw that the two Asgardians were also hiding behind a pendular structure.

There were still three guards next to the portal to Völlom, descrying the faraway platforms. In the distance, the group’s döppelangers were running away, followed by twenty Elves and attracting more. “It is nice to be on this side of that trick for once,” Thor murmured, low enough to be ignored by the remaining guards.

Walker leaned out and sent a meandering coil of magic to wrap around the portal’s defenses loosely. A heavy splash didn’t distract him, but the others saw how someone who had launched themselves at the illusions hit the surface of the water and dissolved the lookalikes.

The group of guards and spies looked around, disconcerted, but one of the remaining guards noticed Walker’s serpentine magic and shouted, driving all the attention back to them. Thor jumped from hiding and, unexpectedly, so did Bruce.

The human had been unable to turn into the Hulk, since his good humor made his anger virtually nonexistent; they had almost forgotten Bruce’s other side, but now with Walker’s spell in place, nothing stopped the green heap of anger from joining the action.

The three guards took a moment to look impressed by the green transformation -although not much, since they were used to ogres and berserkers- and then braced themselves to fight the monster. Thor couldn’t use lightning as he wanted, since the dome of plants above them reconducted his efforts, but he could hammer in the head of anyone who came close enough. The Iron Man suit stayed close to the rest of the team until some guards escaped both Thor’s hammer and the Hulk’s rage. Then Tony told Jarvis to do his thing.

A sound like hell’s door opening made everyone stop in their tracks to look at the portal, where Walker had wrapped enough magic around the barriers and was pulling with all his strength. The portal was sputtering yellow-sounding sparks for anyone who knew magic. The three guards were trying to make the portal stay protected.

The battle continued with Hulk destroying all the adjacent platforms, in a very striking act. On the other hand, the magic battle must have looked strange to the magic-blind: four adults making wide gestures and seeking cover from nothing. Natasha didn’t see the thaums crackling everywhere, but she saw Tony escape from behind the structure, followed by Kirker and Jane, and she figured they must have a plan, so she followed to cover their imprudent backs.

Tony took a small bronze mechanism from one of his two bags. He twisted a dial and threw it at the feet of one of the guards. Meanwhile, Kirker took an oar and choked one of the guards from behind with a face as if she were more afraid than the guard being choked. Jane used the distraction to kick the guard everywhere she could. The device under the second guard made a ticking noise, though it did nothing else to the naked eye. Tony saw that it was sucking away bits of the guard’s energy.

Natasha engaged the third guard, barely believing that they hadn’t thought further than ‘hit where you can,’ before getting out of cover. As soon as she broke the guard’s connection, the protection of the portal crashed with an almost eldritch noise.

“Didn’t I tell you to protect them?” Walker shouted as he dodged a spell.

Natasha shrugged. “They are doing fine.”

The guards were unmoved by the falling defenses of the portal; they had regrouped, kicked Tony’s trinket to the water, and thrown Kirker to the ground, before throwing Jane on top. Both of them were standing up on wobbly legs. There were more people climbing their platform, though. Jarvis was trying to shoot them back to the water, but two city guards had been faster than him and were circling them.

“We only have to avoid them now and cross the portal, this is a piece of cake,” said Tony, full of cheer.

“We have to go together, and you have to cross with a ferdamadur,” Walker explained further.

Natasha attacked the newcomer, who seemed more spy and less mage. Walker stepped into any spells sent in the way of the humans and Kirker. Tony got out of the circle and out of protection and stood in front of the pendular structure. One of the guards sent a ball of energy just before Tony dropped to the floor to avoid the hit.

The structure bobbled and did as Tony had planned: it fell. Natasha pushed Jane out of the way, but two of the guards weren’t as fortunate. The rest of the fighters standing in the platform were sent flying in the air when the platform broke and almost sunk. Hulk and Thor were on their asses, but stood to fight again in the tilted remains of the ground.

“Why did you do that?!” Walker shouted from the floor, deflecting a spell from the fastest guard.

“Jarvis!” Tony shouted instead of answering.

Tony threw his bags and his too-baggy elven top to Walker, for the pocket dimension. Much better, the tank top he was wearing below wasn’t the best under armour, but it would have to do. Walker only took the thrown things and complied because the guard he was fighting was unconscious for the moment and Tony’s investigation on the Gauntlet had to be in those bags.

At a simple hand-command from Tony, the flying suit glided to him and hugged Tony’s form. He took to the air and saw Natasha breaking the spy’s neck from there. Hulk was hurling pieces of debris air the enemies and Thor looked like he was having fun.

“Walker!” Tony said as he shoot the guardian he was fighting and landed on the slanted platform.

“What now?” Walker seemed annoyed.

“My suit can carry four humans, humanoids. What can you do with that?”

Walker turned to him. “Enough.” He stood closer to Tony and shoot a ray at the guardian who refused to stay down.

“Off we go, baby.” Tony picked him from the waist and flew them slowly to where Kirker and Jane were making a fantastic team to stay alive.

Walker climbed to Tony’s back as if he had spent his life doing things like that and Tony had both arms free to pick up the ladies. He had to fly terribly slowly and risk falling to the ground if he wanted to avoid breaking their spines as he picked them up. There would be bruises anyway.

Walker was doing his magic from the top of the suit and keeping the guards on their toes. Meanwhile Tony instructed Jane to hold on to the neck of the suit; that way he had a free hand again.

“Nat!” Tony shouted, making Jane cringe.

The assassin saw them flying and she started to run ahead of them in the same direction and with a hand in the air. Loki shoot the guard that she had been fighting. Tony stretched his free hand down until he clasped Natasha’s in his and pulled. She didn’t need to be instructed to hook a leg around the suit.

“You need seatbelts, Tony,” she shouted to be heard over the noise of the wind.

“Fly to the portal,” Walker ordered.

“What about Thor and Bruce?” Jane asked.

“Fly to the _top._ I need a sample before I can take us.”

Tony did as he was told, flying around the portal while Walker recharged his batteries or something, and shooting when he was in the right position. He felt like a lonely electron circling in the model of an atom.

“Done! Now you have to contain the swarm while they reach the portal, because _someone_ broke the battleground.”

“Thor can fly there, he doesn’t need time,” Jane defended Thor.

“Hulk needs time, and Thor needs to take you.”

“Not me. Let me down, Tony, I think I can guide Hulk faster.”

“Let you down where?!”

She didn’t wait. She squirmed from his hold when they were close enough to the ground, she rolled to avoid hurting her joints, and she proceeded to _climb the Hulk_.

“I can’t believe she did that,” Jane said as Natasha sat relaxedly on his shoulders and whispered on his ear while pointing at the portal.

Walker shot Thor’s enemies and explained that Thor had to take Jane and Kirker right next to the portal and the Hulk and make a signal when they were ready to leave, but not touch the portal until Walker was there. Tony took off his helmet and his chestplate and made the very much _not_ warriors wear them, maybe he should have done that sooner, but he hadn’t had the time to think.

“What do you think you are doing?” Walker shouted, already fighting the most daring Elves. “You should have left your armor on. Why did you give it away just before a fight, incorrigible moron!”

“I don’t need armour, I have you,” Tony answered in his cheesiest voice as he shot away one of the planks elves were trying to use to cross; then he turned to Thor. “Go!”

Thor nodded and took off with Jane and Kirker. The Hulk was still awkwardly moving to climb the structure that Tony had toppled. Tony and Walker didn’t have time to worry about that. The swarm of furious Elves attacked them in a second with everything they could throw. There weren’t many magic users, but they were well protected, and apparently one of them had a brain.

Instead of bridges, suddenly there was a luminous solid _thing_ between all the platforms. All the Elves attacked at the same time and Walker and Tony had to give their everything so nobody could reach Natasha and the Hulk, who were climbing the last twenty feet, but they were vastly outnumbered and some of them were already ignoring them and headed to the fleeing pair.

Walker shot a big burst to give them a breather and Tony saw his chance. “Hey, Walker!” Tony exclaimed with a joy that might have been truly heartfelt. “Check this out!”

Loki didn’t have _time_ to check the irritating human who threw protection to the wind because he felt like it. Just like Thor: _I don’t need armour, I have you_. Tony had meant it as a joke and Loki knew it; furthermore, Thor didn’t really acknowledge Loki’s help when the deed was done, and he was careless on principle, not to give his armour to someone else. The words were grating on Loki’s memories, despite the different context, Loki didn’t intend to turn and pay attention to the human, but then a whooshing sound made him shape a shield around himself and turn to look.

Loki very nearly gaped.

What was left of the metal suit shouldn’t have been able to throw fire, that much Loki knew, but Tony was waking a flaming inferno around him as he whooped and flew among enemies. The fire _had_ to come from something that he had learnt with the Smede, magic. But it was the flames’ reaction what gave Loki pause.

Blinding white and raging fire raced to lick Tony’s boots when he flew and orange, shimmering stripes of it welcomed his body like a cloak when he stayed still, burning in a howl of a rekindled passion. Loki couldn’t talk to the flames or Thor would know, but the draw was strong. He wanted to take a step into the destruction and be part of it, he wanted to _see Tony closer._

Elves ran everywhere to avoid the flames, stashes of fuel exploded when the wildfire expanded, and Loki could only concentrate on how the blaze seemed to glow darker around Tony when he hovered. The unnatural halo surrounded Tony without his knowledge and it had the distinct shape and majesty of wings. Tony was smiling with the same fierceness as the fire. Loki knew the smile that Tony was wearing, both from the human and… and not.

Thunder rumbled over their heads.

Tony looked in the direction of the portal, where the others were ready and Thor had his hammer risen; his smile waned to that rictus that the gas was producing. Loki hated thunder more than ever.

Elves were still trying to cross the fire and jumping to the water to climb on the platform from wherever they could. Loki and Tony were out and flying before they could do anything to extinguish the flames. Loki wove the spell to take all seven of them safely to Völlom on the flight. He timed it so they wouldn’t even need to slow down, diverting the kinetic energy into the spell.

When they were crossing the portal, sure that they had made it out alive, Loki noticed someone. They had climbed from the water and were charging against them; it was one of the three guards. Loki improvised an enchantment to close the portal after them, but it was too hastily done and the guard was already in the pull of the portal.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for waiting for this update. My work at uni is still going on, but I thought I'd leave something for all of you until I can come back. Wish luck to my poor thesis this July.  
> Thanks again to Sam for the beta, the support, and general awesomeness.


	18. Dwarven hospitality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been away for a year and ten months! Unforgiveable! Still I hope you do forgive.  
> Summary in case you are wondering to what you suscribed almost two years ago and you don't rmember:
> 
> Loki is waking war fires in all the realms to face Thanos. He posed as Odin and is posing as Walker, a red-haired stranger who got in touch with the Avengers. He is helping Thor to map the ways of Yggdrasil. Loki is trying to use Tony to build a replica of the gauntlet Thanos is trying to get and make it work with just one of the infinity gems. Despite teaching Tony a bit of magic, the progress was not much, so they went to learn offworld. At the same time, Tony is not as human as he wanted to be and only Loki remembers who or what Tony might be.
> 
> Last time we left our heroes, they had escaped the land of the elves by the skin of their teeth followed by one of the guards. The portal shuld take them to safe ground with the dwarves, but Odin is after them and regaining his strenth. Also, Tony spent the last days high because of the air on the planet.

The ferdamadur-bridge  construction was built for one less passenger than expected. Loki knew it could have ended with a few less limbs of the passengers if he hadn’t cast the closing spell when he had. Therefore, their landing was unstable, but the little team was hale. Their prosecutor, though… he was anything but hale.

There were six dull thuds and a sickening wet sound instead of the seventh body, then the soft clatter of well-built, dwarven armor. Loki looked up an electrified spear to a bearded face. Loki sat up hastily, because if Thor started to speak, they would be in trouble in no time. Even if the future King of Asgard was learning, it was still a work in progress.

“Dwar…”

“Don’t speak, Aesir,” the dwarf pointing his spear to Thor said. “You travel unannounced and bring a corpse, still warm, to our doors. Don’t worsen your condition.”

Loki looked around. The elven Smede was almost hiding behind Thor; Thor was standing proud before the dwarf, blessedly silent, but clenching his teeth. The humans were still pressed against the ground, since gravity was higher than on Midgard. Natasha, neck injured, had crawled to the Hulk and had managed to calm him down already. Jane was cradling her arm, Stark was hiding his face, but his armor had retreated into a suitcase again. There were the warm remains of the elf too; a gruesome spectacle.

It looked terrible, incriminating, and certainly as bad as it really was.

Loki still tied to defend them from the Dwarven accusations. As soon as he opened his mouth the spear pressed against his throat, a hand-twitch away from breaking the skin. And that was dwarven workmanship, it wouldn’t heal easily.

“Wait!” Stark lifted his head; his eyes were red-rimmed already, but his voice only wavered slightly. “The words, Gyöngy said, huh…” he doubted, but the Dwarves weren’t as adamant to keep him quiet. “something like… I and mine shall walk under the beams of Gyöngy’s protection, for I am a merited… Smith? Forger? in the eyes of the Gyöngy’s linage.” Stark smiled weakly. “I even brought the pearl I promised.”

Loki was honestly surprised. Stark had botched the linage line, but the pledge of sanctuary was essentially right and the title of the host was enough to cause admiration in any Dwarf, apparently. Even the dwarves without the allspeak understood the name. Loki had been aware of Stark’s drabble in politics and diplomatic liaisons, but a little politeness was a far cry from this immediate reaction.

“You must be Stark; you are welcome in our branches, be it dark or light, but…” The guard looked at the elf and the Asgardians. He seemed to come to a decision. “Send for him. They will be escorted, neutral ground.”

The signaled dwarf didn’t even salute before leaving at a brisk pace. Not quite fast enough, probably because he was not in a hurry to help one of Thor’s fiends. There was an uncomfortable silence while Loki did a headcount again. The augmented gravity was keeping the humans plastered to the ground with the exception of Natasha, who seemed strong enough to have a small range of motion despite the pressure.

His whole attention was on Stark, though. He was feeling the strain of both the change in physics and in chemicals in the air. He was breathing hard and Loki could see him breaking down piece by piece, giving in, too worn by the latest events. Since he was staring closely, it was very obvious when the chemicals in the air, far more similar to Earth’s composition, brought Tony to a fall. He slumped, hid his face and stopped trying to sit upright.

Loki saw from the corner of his eye that the dwarves were realizing their predicament too and the leading one had sent another one of his underlings away. Hopefully their gestures, counting how many fallen humans there were, were to get them kulpas or whatever was used in Völlom. Loki was slightly more concerned by Tony’s breakdown.

His shoulders were shaking, but he was hiding his face resolutely. He didn’t want to be seen, Loki could relate; there was strength in denial somethimes. It was also true that they couldn’t be seen as weak, but neither could they be seen as a threat, so Loki didn’t really want to use too much magic.

Still, Loki got closer to help Stark with a concealing glamour.

Natasha appeared before him, showing again might quite above what one could expect. She blocked his path to Stark, and even though he could push her out of the way, that was not the point, not the impression he wanted to give, much less in front of the Dwarves.

“I wondered when I’d find an unmovable edge of your trust.”

Natasha’s face was stony and it reminded Loki that it didn’t matter how hard he tried and proved himself; he would never be trusted. Of course he understood her concerns and overprotectiveness, but it also reminded him that they were not really his friends, they were convenient help. The problem with being undercover shape-shifted is that one started to believe one’s lies. Unforgivable, really, a beginner’s mistake.

But in the face of that fact, he could either back off or push back.

“I intend no harm.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then what…?” Loki said in a whisper.

“He doesn’t need you to be his savior. He has us, and we won’t be excluded.”

Their conversation was so hushed that Loki was sure not even Tony had heard them. Natasha moved aside slightly, making it look natural and not like a bodyguard allowing an intruder to progress. “Continue and explain.”

“Stark, listen to me. I can’t imagine what it must be like getting lost in a mind like yours but I can make an educated guess,”

Loki searched Stark’s eyes when he turned his head slightly and he couldn’t make them quite focus on him. Loki had seen this happen before; he had seen spells gone wrong where the caster was slowly consumed by inner darkness and demons. It should only be dangerous if one was alone, but that didn’t make living it any easier, and people like Stark who jumped from narcissism to abject self-loathing would only hurt themselves hiding away.

“…and I’m sure you want to be alone and not alone at the same time. Listen to me: put all the pain aside for me for a moment. Listen, I’ll put a spell on you. Nobody will see or hear you. You can cry or scream to your heart’s content and nobody will know, but you won’t see or hear either, almost like a doll. You need to trust…”

Loki turned to the redhead considering.

“…the Widow to guide you. Try not to panic, but if you need, you only need to grip the Widow’s hand tighter. Do you understand, do you want this?”

Tony managed to nod in a flicker of consciousness and while Loki was casting discretely, a cough announced them that the messenger had come back with adaptative life-lines that would allow the humans to move and breath as if they were back on Earth.

***

The troupe marched through corridors, not paying as much attention as they would have if the circumstances hadn’t kept them spinning circles, each faster than the last one. Tony was ahead of the expedition, arm in arm with Natasha. Smede Kirker was in the middle with Thor and Loki, since they were the ones who could be hated on more easily.

They were flanked by dwarves through spacious galleries, clearly made to transport and distribute products. The rock looked rough and unrefined; the light was cold, unkind, the type only used in workspaces, there were metal lines that could mean anything from a miner code to a means of transportation… But all those details went unnoticed.

They were ushered into a room with several doors, a public space devoid of personality. It seemed to be a waiting room, judging by the amount of chairs and the lack of taste. The guards stayed outside, polite enough but not quite stupid. Most of the group suspected the walls would be paper thin despite the obvious and visible rock, all the better to spy on your suspects.

Three more people were already sitting in the same space, but only one of them looked at them jumpy and wary, while the other two seemed to be trying very hard to look nonchalant and didn’t even look at the newcomers.

As soon as the humans tried to actually sit, they discovered all the chairs were dwarf sized. Loki knew thanks to extensive travels that they were in a visitor’s reception centre of some sort; the hostile sort, if the chairs and bare walls were meant to be taken as a passive-aggressive welcome.

Loki didn’t really care. They’d talk their way out of this one, he was sure of it. Thor was controlled, managed, by Jane, who was constantly whispering to him. Loki had overheard her quiet warnings. Banner was tired, but not too tired to miss a beat it they needed him to follow a crafty lie. The Smede was quiet and manageable, and then there were his fellow liars. However, his attention kept drifting to them for a very different reason. 

Tony looked fresh and active, if quiet, as per his own spell, but Loki knew there must be a mess under that disguise. He could see the drops on the floor, probably tears out of the control of the spell. Loki worried unduly. He knew Tony would get over it, and he trusted Natasha would be a convenient support. In fact, she was reacting well to Tony's twitching muscles with subtle gestures and reassuring words that Loki couldn’t quite hear.

She was a master manipulator and this was no different. It was nobody’s business how sincere she was in her reassurances.

Loki didn’t want to get stuck in meaningless worries, so he got busy observing the trio waiting at the opposite end of the room. He noticed their pet dragon draped over the back of their seats and the long, thin package half hidden under their seats and behind their legs, although one of them kept a feet touching the bundle, as if to reassure himself it was still there.

The travelers themselves were small enough to fit in the chairs, but not children and clearly hybrids. One of them must have had some connection to fire tribes, and the other two were hard to identify. Mixed blood tended to show in unexpected ways, but their clothes seemed to point at somewhere hot too, and they travelled light.

Loki’s observations were interrupted by the door at the farthest corner opening. It let in a dwarf, prissy step, curly beard and some device he was checking in between his hands. Three Asgardian guards tailed the Dwarf and they didn’t look even remotely happy. Thor stepped forward, instantly interested.

“I must insist, this is urgent official business, you can’t keep me from performing my duty.” He was the one with the shiniest armor and the highest ranking of them, but neither of their looks suggested a really high ranking guard. Those only wore gold and jewels.

“Hmmm, according to portuary regulations…” The dwarf checked his device and repeated the humming noise. It was easy to tell; the dwarf was enjoying obstructing their path. “…by the last concessions of the allfather, only his direct orders allow you to call this thing you are doing ‘official’. You must understand that if you don’t have his express command, I can’t tell you from a regular citizen from Asgard trying to fool us and..."

“We don’t have his command because we were chasing them!” The guard pointed at the three strangers enraged.

“And crossing borders and jurisdictions at that, yes, I’m aware that’s your story, but you tell me you don’t have your official documentation, so you can’t prove you have the level to work in trans-border issues.”

“We were at a ceremony; there shouldn’t have been need for documentation. There never is!” He shouted in frustration.

“That’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t change things.” The dwarf pretended to sigh as if the levels of frustration were the same on both sides. “These are the laws Asgard passed to us; disobeying them would be unbecoming.”

The guard noticed Thor; he was hard to miss, and a smile a bit cruel lit up his features.

“Prince Thor, the Norns must be looking out for us.” He did a deep bow and Loki would have instantly despised him if his opinion hadn’t been swaying already in that direction.

“There is no need for bowing, I’m no prince since I left Asgard, but if I may be of any assistance, how can I help you?” He approached cheerfully. It was disaster on a red cape, and Jane seemed to smell it too, so she stood with him at the same time as Loki rushed to prevent whatever was about to happen.

“This little creature is getting in the way of Justice.” The guard pointed downward.

“Not the way I see it, sir. Justice is what I try to preserve. The law is clear about this and you” the dwarf sent a poisonous smile at the guard “are the one trying to circumvent it.”

Thor looked at the Einherjar for more explanations and Loki had to contain an eyeroll.

“Well, there was a delegation from the land of the fire giants to renegotiate the peace treaty that was signed while Odin was indisposed. When the delegation was leaving, those three used their dirty firescum tricks to steal Heimdall’s sword while one of them kept the dome open to escape. We passed through the same conduct, but the way closed behind us.”

“Yes, today we seem to have an oversupply of overenthusiastic guards overestimating themselves like that.” The dwarf looked at the other group in the room with a look that promised murder if someone dared to make light of the situation.

The group, however, was focused on the three little travelers and the bundle under their seats. They didn’t look capable of a crime against Asgard, but looks were deceiving.

“Well, my friends,” Thor stated in a grandiose tone, “the solution is obvious, isn’t it? Take them to a dungeon and take the sword until someone opens a way and the sword is returned.”

“Your highness,” the dwarf bowed shallowly. “These are citizens travelling legally; they have their papers in order, unlike your guards. Royal regulations state a right to privacy, and the only proof to what they say requires going through their private belongings. They could violate that right if they were sent by Odin himself, but they say they ran off on their own and they don’t even have the documents that could prove who they are.”

“I know them! I’ve known them since the day they entered the guard. That should be enough, so let’s solve this. I vouch for them.”

Thor turned to the three miscreants and their terror faces proved their guilt even more than the bundle under them. Jane jumped to Thor’s side, trying to estimate how to help Thor without outright manipulating him.

Loki was not going to wait, and neither were the guards. The frustrated leader reached for the trio who stood from their chairs protectively before the bundle. Their courage was stuck in the knot of their throats and they exuded some kind of loyalty with every thick drop of cold sweat. In other words: stupid courage.

“We will fight to the death if needed. This is ours. It is. You won’t have it. And Asgard always respects a duel... right?” The little dwarfish creature spoke up and his tone of voice indicated that he was probably very young, not quite a child, but...

Loki thanked that futile bravery this once. It gave him time to think. There had to be something in one of his pockets… something useful… Come on, it was time for the trickster… He had to use this chance, he felt it was right, and he was sure he had something… there!

While the three nameless travellers contained their breath, while Jane muttered in Thor’s ear what the whole situation meant and who was on whose side, while the guards showed cruel smiles, while the dwarf in charge complained about diplomatic violations, while the rest of the present company prepared to fight once again, while time seemed to slow down and stop, waiting for the first one to snap… Loki slipped through and visibly stole the bundle.

“There, there, no need for diplomatic conflict or duels.” He said with a smile while he received a mix of indignant and stupefied looks. “I stole it, and I’m not a dwarf, your laws don’t protect me and these gentlemen need to check that what I just stole belongs really to these three victims, or to whoever is the owner of that thing.”

Loki twirled the long bundle, handling it like one would a sword, adding a barely noticeable extra twitch of his hand, and throwing it to the surprised guards. He earned a lot of disapproving and betrayed looks from everyone, some suspicious gratitude from the guards and a poignant confused look from Thor.

The guard didn’t wait for someone to complain. He opened the bundle cutting the rope and let the improvised pieces of rags fall to the floor, letting everyone see the shiny metal of a very long flute.

After a second of silent shock the guard shouted.

“What is the meaning of this trickery?” He took his own sword and clashed it against the flute.

“Hey, hey! what are you doing? This is delicate!” One of the dwarves jumped.

“Worry not,” Thor calmed the dwarf. “Einherjar swords and armor are spelled against most magics, if you had been trying to deceive us with magic, its touch would have broken the spell, but it must be really...Just some flute.”

“Some flute?!” The smallest of them shouted incredulous. “This is one of the flutes from Lady Smoke’s collection!” He said in awe. “And it is my rightful heirloom. My aunt gifted it to me during the trip.”

The guard pierced him with a stare that left no room to guess if he was being fooled.

Loki snorted and drew attention to himself once again.

“Oh my, no wonder you hid it. You play that? You must be a disgrace to your family!” He laughed inelegantly. “See, in Muspel, this instrument?” He elbowed Thor. “So egry.” And laughed again.

“Egri?” The guard looked at the flute.

“Sure! Imagine all the jokes about where you can shove such a long…” Loki wiggled his eyebrows. “No self respecting man would carry such a thing.”

The guard looked at the flute as if it could be contagious and put the rags over it carefully before handing it back.

“I don’t understand. We saw them!”

“Maybe it was some other dwarf.” The administrator dwarf mussed annoyed. “You, Asgardians, keep joking about how we all look the same, so how would you distinguish one from another, if they were with a group, huh?”

His heated glare was so full of unconcealed hatred that even the door opening was a relief.

“I’ve been told Stark came knocking on my humble…” The new dwarf looked around. “...door. Do we have a situation? Excuse me. I wasn’t told prince Thor had come. Be welcome to our halls, First of the Allsons.”

The dwarf who had tried to handle the guards before Thor stepped in. He must have been a randy one, because he didn’t let the royalty member speak before he was out there taking control.

“We do most definitely not have a situation, Gyöngy. There was an identity misunderstanding and trouble with the Bifrost, at their side, mind you, as usual. But now it is managed. These three of the High Smoke are free to go and these guards will be escorted to the Asgardian tunnels until they are picked up once the Bifrost trouble is solved.”

The guard coughed. And the dwarf got the medal to the sourest face of the realm.

“In fact, not everything is resolved. The Allfather has ordered publically that prince Thor must be taken back to Asgard and his companions are to be taken to the nearest cell.”

“What?” Came a mild chorus from everyone who could protest and it went downwards from there:

“That can be arranged, Thor and the guards…”

“We must oversee the prisoners…”

“They came with a corpse too…”

“This could mean war.”

“Wait but the elf lady is not…”

“So, can we leave, or…?”

“Why? I demand a reason.”

“You really need to listen…”

The ruckus came to a stop when the randy dwarf made a bell sound with a metal thing attached to a string.

“With your permission, Gyöngy. You three, go now. Smede Kirker, leave with them,” she looked around, the dwarf looked at her warningly and stage-whispered. “Don’t get involved, this is damage control.” She looked at the humans sadly, said goodbye, promised to come back and left with the three other lucky ones.

“Now, the rest of us will take a walk to the losing chambers; that’s our cell system, for you all foreigners, and we will keep discussing this on our way there.” The dwarf looked discretely at Gyöngy and got a nod in return.

“Finally, a reasonable decision.” The main guard said and headed for a door.

Randy dwarf looked at his retreating back with hatred, headed to the other door and signaled them to go out while saying “Do you even know the way there without me? Or are you that eager to get lost?”

The group followed the dwarf if only to get the chance to talk. The Asgardian guards followed and the dwarven guards did too. Natasha would have used the opportunity to run away if she wasn’t taking care of Stark; Thor was quietly discussing with the asgardian guards, Jane was looking after him, Bruce was trying not to explode and Stark was hanging to sanity by a thread in his own head.

And Loki, Loki was surprised nobody had noticed the little dragon that had slipped under the seats and had clung to him, but with the convoluted situation it was a minor distraction. Loki walked by Gyöngy and asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

“We are really going to the cells, are we not?” The dwarf stayed quiet. “I guessed as much. May I ask why?”

“I have a question for you too, take that as an answer: What did you do to Stark?”

“Huh?” Loki played the fool.

“He’s been quiet.” Gyöngy’s look was charged with accusations.

“Gyöngy,” the randy dwarf said, “The situation you walked in would have been much bloodier if not for this man. I believe he is not a friend of Asgard, at the very least.”

“That must be rewarded when the time is right, but the question now is, is he on Stark’s side?”

Natasha came closer still holding Stark protectively, but quite an expert at listening in while multitasking.

“On Stark’s side?” She laughed mockingly. “They couldn’t be on different sides if they tried.”

“I have noticed myself, lady… you are?” Gyöngy looked at Tony intently, then at their joined hands before focusing on her.

“A friend.” She summarized.

“What do you mean, you ‘noticed yourself’?” Loki interrupted.

“Well, you have been checking on him since I came into that room, I’ve seen that kind of worried looks in waiting rooms, especially when there was some kind of forbidden infatuation involved.”

“Sorry, Walker, you seem to be that obvious.” Natasha grinned evilly.

“I really must stop hanging with Asgardians,” Loki rolled his eyes. “it makes me think everyone is denser than they are.”

“So, if you realized their connection,” Natasha tuned her grin down and looked back at Gyöngy. “why don’t you trust him?”

“Love, lust, companionship, loyalty… Those are blind and none of them are reason enough to trust someone.” The dwarf next to Gyöngy nodded approvingly.

“I can’t blame you. More often than not I find myself against an enemy born out of any or all of them.” Natasha wondered what could bring the dwarf to their side. If Stark took too long to recover they might be in trouble. “Look. We didn’t bring him against his will and that much I can prove. He kept saying he wanted to bring you this pearl, it is in his pocket if you want to check. This was supposed to be a calm visit, we planned to come and things got out of hand.”

It was strange how she was having this conversation with Stark so close and at the same time so far.

“He did? Oh, he didn’t have to! It was just… But, never mind that. I want his own voice to tell me what has happened, after all, he is the one who asked for sanctuary, right?”

“And you hold that promise by throwing him to a cell?” Bruce got close to chime in.

“Just how many of you, nosy humans are listening in?” The dwarf who remained nameless chided.

“I am trying to help Stark, if you trusted me a little, it would go a long way to make me trust you back.” Gyöngy muttered and walked quicker.

“What is going on over there?” The main Asgardian guard asked when he saw their little discussion.

“They saw the door to the oubliette and were trying to bargain for their lives, but it won’t happen.” Gyöngy lied; except they didn’t know for sure if it was a lie.

“Good.”

The humans looked at the corridor where they were headed. It was dark, but it didn’t look like it was very different from the rest of the cave system. In fact, the whole thing was a bit labyrinthine, unrefined, and just plain impractical. It felt somehow off, like they were already lost; like they had never stopped being lost since they came from that portal.

The light became a bit scarcer with every twist of the way. Then there were only lights at the intersections, and then only at some intersections. Darkness, without Stark at his full potential, also drove them to silence.

Just after one of those lightless tunnels the sound of resonating footsteps decreased, and at the next light they found that most of the guards and the randy dwarf had disappeared.

"Where is Thor?" Jane shouted alarmed. He had been by her side until that very moment.

"He’ll be kept busy with the guards. They will be reassured of your confinement." Gyöngy explained.

"What? No!" Jane jogged until she was walking by Gyöngy’s side.

"I’m afraid it is the only option if we want to keep you all here and safe."

"That can’t be the only option. We can leave the guards behind, but he is part of the group and he is not the prince anymore, right? His ties to Odin are cut, you can trust him."

“I’ve been told he keeps using his authority as if he was still an Odinson, so we are not going to risk a change of heart."

"I insist we must stay together." She said with the surety of one wanting to be taken seriously, but about to be taken into custody.

"If Odin finds a way to track him, you are safer as far from him as dwarfly possible."

"No! You can’t treat him like some expendable part, like you are doing us a favor by cutting our losses. And you?” She turned to the rest of the humans. “Are you not going to protest?"

"Is he safe?" Natasha directed her question to the dwarf.

"Of course. He and the guards will be treated like Asgardian envoys deserve; luxury and minimum information. My good friend must be telling him right now that this is standard procedure. You were escorted to losing tunnels, oubliettes, which is not completely false. They will enjoy our hospitality until we find a way to reach Asgard without the Bifrost, which might take a while."

"Then I’m good." Natasha nodded.

"What?! After all Thor has done for this team?”

“Odin is looking for him. Our lives are in danger traveling with him.”

“Oh, because we always travel so safe. You are talking to a storm hunter. You’ll just…” It looked like Jane was getting tired of seeking support in deaf ears. “Agh, take me to whoever is in charge. I need to discuss a couple of things." And she snapped.

Gyöngy signed at another guard who didn’t seem to have have the allspeak.

"Take her to the head of the Asgardian embassy, but not to the golden hall. Have Zadian explain her; full disclosure of Dwarven and Asgardian relationships, then go to the city’s Sante’s house and bring Dulec. Tell him to send some of his dwarves to check on Smede Kirker and Foster, rush him here and tell him to bring whatever necessary for a…" Gyöngy turned to take a look at everyone “post-fight scenario, and a severe unhook from a rift scenario too, tell him there’s risk of Alfheim infections; inter-realm patients.”

The dwarf nodded and headed off, waiting for Jane to follow. Before she could stride into darkness, Gyöngy called her back.

“Foster, I’m offering this as a kindness, and because I liked what I saw of you in the Asgard reunion. This is not part of whatever you have with Thor, or with Stark or your role in the upcoming war. This is strictly between you and me, and whoever I choose to include in this circle, understood and accepted?”

Jane nodded, not moved outwardly, and headed into the darkness after the guard.

Silence reigned once again until they came to a sudden turn and a fully furnished room, like a rich hall from some old monarchy, received them. It had wooden walls, a few sofas, rugs, a slightly oppressive feel thanks to the combination of dark colours, but an overall welcoming vibe.

Gyöngy opened her arms signaling them to spread and make themselves comfortable. Natasha guided Stark to one of the couches, pushed to make him lay in the recovery position and sat in what was left of the couch still holding his hand. They barely noticed how the furniture was the right size for humans.

“Is there anything we can discuss before Stark is awake?”

“The weather?” Bruce ventured.

“What about the High Smoke young ones?” Gyöngy got comfortable in a low chair. “Stark wasn’t there, right? He won’t have much to add, so I’d like to hear what happened there.”

In that moment Loki was sure the sword couldn’t feel much heavier in his hidden pocket if it was made of uru. It was certainly making a commendable effort to tear a hole in his caution. To tell or not to tell… In case of doubt, never tell…

The Widow had started the retelling, but she was only a few sentences in when a group of dwarves with medical equipment arrived with all imaginable supplies and some unimaginable too.

The workers found and treated the worst of their injuries in silence and perfect synchronization. Natasha’s neck was the worst visible injury, but all converged in Tony and Loki agreed to take the spell from Stark if there was a better solution than letting it pass. Natasha agreed and the spell was lifted to let them work.

Bruce sat down next to the portable cot where they put Tony to see how bad it really was. His friend was breathing normally, but his pulse was not as regular as it could be, especially sleeping. Bruce was not a specialist, but the dwarves who came and tended him were well versed in xenomedicine, so he simply stood by their side to keep an eye on the proceedings and tried to learn.

Natasha had an eye on them too, as did Loki. The head doctor, Dulec, informed them of Tony’s situation and his oncoming awakening, in a couple of hours. After that the medical team left and the apparent calm that followed contrasted with the raw nerves running deep.

 

***

 

They were already done telling the abridged version of what had happened with the sword and the three halfblood. They had reached an uncomfortable silence and were eager to be distracted, so when Natasha tried to ask for something, she drew all eyes to her. And alert as they were, all of them zeroed in the blood and worried.

The dwarf had not lived as many excitements and had no reason to worry about injuries and pain hidden in shock.

"Oh, well, you really came unprepared." Gyöngy half-laughed.

"It wasn't due for..." Natasha tried to count days backwards.

"Do not worry, I’m not accusing you, relax.” Gyöngy stopped her. “I'll send for someone. Also, come, there are rooms where you can change. I'll have someone bring you a change of pants… Wait I usually carry one of these under… in one of my… no, empty pockets today. Sorry, I’ll send for that too. Will you be ok?”

“I’ve never let it stop me and this time won’t be different. It will be fine.”

“I came prepared,” A few heads turned in the unexpected direction and Bruce noted that Walked doubted before continuing “I have something on me.”

He stood and handed Natasha a familiar colorful packet. She looked at him with some wonder before he retreated back to his place next to Tony and Bruce. She let it go and left with the dwarf.

 "Well that is certainly illustrating." Bruce commented.

"What do you mean?" Walker said warily.

"The extent of your shapeshifting. I've been guessing since I noticed you don't have real fingerprints, but coloration with similar patterns. The only shifter I know who can pass a retina scan and the proper fingerprints is Xavier's colleague, Mystica. Of course that raised the question of partial shiftings, and how much awareness over internal organs...” Buce realized he might have said too much when it was far too late and Walker’s silence was proof of it.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't quite sure if it was something you were hiding. But I guess it is obvious you don’t discuss it." Bruce waited for some reaction, even anger, but Walker was just silent. "Look I noticed a long time ago and I've been quiet. I can stay that way.

“I would. I will, I mean, I don't know what you are hiding underneath, but I understand why someone would want to hide from one and others. And… Asgard is not very welcoming to women, is it? Or to people any less than perfectly strict with genders, right? I’ve been hearing about all the tasks that Lady Sif had to go through to be an equal. I guess you took a shortcut, or something. Stop me anytime because I’m starting to feel tonyish…”

“…You are not completely mistaken. What I hide is certainly a monster, to some… to me… And much more ergi than what is socially acceptable, but I don’t need another monster’s pity.”

“You don’t have it. But you have my empathy and a pair of ears if you want to share one day. But only if you manage to find me well rested; the last time I offered emotional support to a friend it didn’t end the way either of us expected.” Bruce said ruefully. “Maybe I’m not the one to seek if you want understanding.” He looked back at Stark.

“Maybe.”

Silence threatened with a new appearance and Bruce wouldn’t allow it.

“Anyway, ergi, that’s the second time I hear that word today, care to share?”

“You are all about the easy questions today, aren’t you?” Walker laughed short and emotionless. “Fortunately for you, I do believe you need to know this before we stumble across any other Asgardian. Ergi is when a man…”

“Is… Is that a dragon on your hip?”

 ***

Bruce and Walker talked over Tony’s cot for a long time. The dwarf came back, Natasha came back with new clothes and thanked Walker, who wanted to simplify his lies and so he turned into a redhead woman, an old cowgirl skin from a long time ago, to show his ability and the reason why he usually carried one or more products like that. He didn’t bother to change, he felt comfortable out of Walker for a while. And he didn’t even have to lie: changing realms really messed with his cycles so he never really knew when he was due.

Jane joined them pale and dazzled and silent with random muttering of how Asgard deserved hell and brimstone and how Thor was being treated quite well and with precautions that history proved necessary.

Even Smede Kirker came back with a dwarf friend, two guards and a fickle confidence that was holding her there with pins and needles. She had come prepared to even buy them as slaves if push came to shove and she was visibly relaxed to find they were fine and not for sale.

All of them coming to share and wait finally gave the room some pleasant and lively conversation. That was the ambiance noise that Tony came to hear first.

He felt like someone had taken a weird mixture of cotton and sand and had played “stuff the turkey” with his cranium. There was no mistaking the feeling; he was not waking up, not from sleep at least. Instead he had fallen unconscious at some point. And feeling the salt tracks on his face when he moved his head helped him remember a little faster.

He pushed himself up suddenly, forgetting the carefulness he should have had if he had been abducted again, forgetting to be careful because the voices he had woken up to were quite familiar and soothing.

“Morning, boys and girls, good nap. Now, where were we? Oh.” He jumped from the cot where he was lying surprising Bruce, who made a move to catch him if there was a sudden dizzy spell. “My Gyöngy, my dear Gyöngy, there you are, I couldn’t have done half the shit I’ve done without your last tips. Elves are indeed hard to get a read on. And…” He turned around quickly both to keep attention on himself while he assessed the room at large. “New faces, what is this?” He kept an eye on the silent guards at both ends of the corridor to which the room as attached. “What is this?” He repeated looking at the dwarf sitting with Smede Kirker. “I believe I know you. This crafty lady just kept talking about a certain supplier of metal who really knew what he was doing. And it was a feat, because at the time we were running away, so you really must be remarkable.”

The dwarf would have said something, but Tony twirled yet again and turned to the last new face.

“And you, new face…”

“Call me Sky.”

“Sky, what a beautiful… Hypocorism, that’s the word, but no luck, Walker. I’m afraid I can’t quite think of you with any other name, it’s as if I started to call Pep Virginia or something. He or she, by the way?”

“She. I wouldn’t want you to slip if we ever cross paths and I’m undercover.”

“Sure, smart . Not what I meant, but it will do.”

“Tony, sit.” Natasha ordered. “You are interrupting a perfectly sane and peaceful conversation.”

“Peaceful and sane? Not if I can help it.”

He still sat down when Natasha tugged his jeans and let the metal provider introduce himself. Meanwhile Natasha was silently checking Tony for further damage. Bruce was also looking at him, waiting for another head to sprout. Tony gave Gyöngy a look, a wink, and took a Pearl out of his pocked, showing it only to her and hiding it in his pocket again the way a kid would share the frog he had taken to class. She actually giggled under her beard but hid it carefully.

“May we start with the serious discussion now that Smede Stark is awake?” Kirker tried to drive the conversation.

“Serious, me? You are aware of the contradiction, right?” He grinned with a public smile.

“Smede Stark, this is important and we don’t have time to play around.”

Tony looked at the guards pointedly still with a fake smile.

“They are to be trusted.” Gyöngy tried to reason.

“Then trust them once I’m out of sight with plans that are not ours.”

“Fair enough. Salem, Yemmet, go rest. I’ll talk to Burt myself.”

The last guards left and the remaining dwarves, except for the metal extraction dwarf, were familiar enough with their plan.

“Okay, now, what do you already know?” Tony clapped and some of the tension slowly ebbed away to be replaced with energy to do things and go places.

“Nothing, we decided to wait.”

“I would be touched, but we have lost a lot of time. So, we suspect Odin is trying to find us, destroy us and keep his son for himself.”

“Already aware. Guards came when you were out.” Natasha explained. “Thor is… Unknowingly entertaining them while we pretend to be prisoners.”

Jane huffed still indignant.

“Oh, good. Now, there is this elf clan that hates our guts and is working with Odin. Well, there are a few odd ones who are working to help…”

“The bug?” Gyöngy interrupted. “They helped to smuggle a shipment of weapons for the allfater just a system ago. They will do the same with a shipment of Nopeinpyöräs.”

“Oh, good, so you know him. And I want one of them once they are liberated. Okay, and the reason why we came is because Thor and Walker are…”

“Mapping the portals for the fight, everyone knows that.”

“Are you sure you were not talking while I was out?”

“Maybe we should be the ones to inform him.” Walker looked around. “We had an encounter with Asgardian guards while you were out. Apparently Asgard no longer has the sword-key for the bifrost, thanks to relatives of Lady Smoke, and the only way Asgard could use the secret pathways is if one of the ferdamadur Odin scared off was captured and tortured.”

“I see. Kingdom hearts, now rated pg18. Go on.”

“The guards took Thor.”

“He’ll be safe with them.”

“What!? Safe?” Jane exploded once again.

“Miss Foster, I sent you to lean the situation…” Gyöngy tried to calm her down.

“Yes, I thank you for it, and now I know, but a delicate situation doesn’t mean I’m less worried about him. Do you all not see? If Odin wants his heir he won’t stop until he gets him, and Thor will stand for us, and Odin will be enraged, and then what? Will he stop? Will he be reasonable? No. He never stilled his hand with his children. Not with Thor and not with Loki and neither with his wife I think. What makes you think that he won’t put a worm in Thor’s ear so he becomes a puppet? What exactly makes you not rescue him in this very moment?”

“A worm?” Natasha turned to the other aliens. “Is that a possibility?”

“It is his first born.” Gyöngy said as if that explained everything.

“Then yes…” She turned to Jane. “We’ll get him out.”

Jane huffed, but this time it was exhaustion and not annoyance and sat down for the time being. “Now that he is a burden you care?” She muttered.

“There is a weapon,” Loki said reluctantly. “We have been trying to make it work.”

“And there has been progress!” Tony added with a complicit look to Kirker.

“Not enough progress, not fast enough. We would request your best forgers and mages to look into it too.”

Gyöngy nodded. “Sycalla was alerted to your presence as soon as I was. She mentioned Alyndor would interest you.”

“You must be aware we started misinformation campaign once we realized no elf would help us, so take everything that comes from there with a grain of salt.” Natasha added.

“Then you must know that Hella is in Town, along with her entourage. The Lady Smoke won’t be long, she’ll come as soon as she shakes suspicions off herself, there has always been a great number of refugees in our lands, but right now our hidden halls are full.”

“Stealing the sword… It was your idea, right?”

“Why would you say so?”

“Collecting the sword is the only reason I can think for you three to meet here this way.”

“But we don’t have the sword. She does.” Gyöngy pointed vaguely at Walker. “And she doesn’t seem to trust us enough to hand it in or even recognize that she has it.”

“If you are really working with Hella bring her here, I’ll hand it to her.”

“Are you implying she is more trustworthy than me?” Gyöngy said suspiciously.

“Indeed.” There was more that he wanted to say like: I’ve read many tomes about the elven-dwarf way and the lineage and consequences of the dwarven king’s death. ‘Gyöngy’ is not a name I’ve read in any of them, so who are you? And why do you not wear the rune marks in chest plates like everyone else?

“I could arrange for most of what you need in a few days, but it won’t be quite discrete and we are running against Odin, the Elves you left behind and the possibility of Thanos bringing war before we are prepared.”

“Take into account that Loki is alive and recruiting.” Jane added.

“We suspected as much; nothing changes in Asgard without him having a hand on it, so we are working with the theory that he was the one dealing with us instead of Odin.”

They talked for hours and they only stopped discussing when it was late and someone brought whole tables, chairs and anything they could wish for at a feast. There was a constant layer of worry. Different troubles, different goals, and it showed, but for the moment, everyone was playing nice.

Once they settled enough plans, Gyöngy found them rooms in one of the refugees buildings and she led them through dark passages. She wouldn’t risk the Asgardian guards bumping into them. There would be time for sightseeing once everything was tied up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is unbetaed, but I'll come back to it later, because It has troubled me for so long...


	19. Down the Anthill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously on:
> 
> Tony and Loki (under the guise of a redhead named Walker) escaped with the rest of the party to the Dwarven lands. There they found Aesir guards who wanted to arrest them all while the change of airs made Tony catatonic. They must keep up their progress cataloguing the closed and open portals, mapping them and meeting anyone skilled enough to rebuild the Infinite gauntlet and make it work with only a few stones. And they better be quick, because they saw Amora the last time they left Earth, and war is approaching.
> 
> In the last half of the story Tony has been too worried to remember that he is not quite human. But we are not, are we?

**  **

Loki was sure Stark would need help, so he headed to his room as soon as he could. However, he didn’t get to knock on the door. He was still two steps away and Bruce came out of the very room he intended to visit. When the doctor saw Walker he drew a smile and approached.

“No hard feelings?” Bruce smiled; half-knowing, but refusing to believe he had already been forgiven.

“I might have to thank you, in fact. I tire of some disguises; you gave me the opportunity to breathe for a while.”

“Good. That’s good. I still feel like I owe you an apology, once we are back on Earth let me invite you to my lab. I’d offer my best tea, but I think you’d value a practical lesson about radiation more  than any Earth drink.”

“I shouldn’t accept an apology not needed in the first place, but I find myself inclined to selfishly accept both.” Loki smiled kindly, it was something in the way the doctor carried himself, it invited to gentleness.

“Fantastic. Now, the next days I will be a dead weight unless you need me in some way. In fact, I just left Jane and Tony to find you. I want to know if there is some way to help or how we could use the fact that I’m here at all.”

Loki looked at the door, and if he concentrated he could hear two voices indeed. Stark was safe, he had company and now Loki had time to spare.

“Fine, come to my room, I’ll tell you about the Dwarven apprenticeship caves. You can find there some very fine crafts that we could use, try to meet…”

Their echoes muted slowly and in the silence, the voices from Tony’s room were easier to hear, but still not enough to make them out from just noise. They were speaking quietly, and since Jane was low-key pissed with all of them, it wasn’t quite as warm as a worried Jane could be toward a sick friend.

“What do you see in him? He is all… muscles.” Tony taunted from the bed.

And her being pissed off didn’t look like it was going to change anytime soon thanks to Tony. Bruce had left at the right moment to avoid a green code, but now there was no buffer between Tony’s taunts and Jane’s annoyance.

“Take that back.”

“Why? I’m right; you deserve so much better. He is specist, and he brags about being Asgardian, and he thinks himself better than _you_ most of the time. You can’t love him just because he loves you, right? You must be above that. Is he a stallion or something? Is he so good that...”

“I’m serious; take that back.” She had the kind of disappointed look that could only be learnt by practicing every morning mimicking Captain America. She kept silent a moment and then she sighed. “He is a good man. Of course he is not perfect, Asgard has put a lot of flaws in him, but I love him enough to be there for him as he tries to become a better person.” She sat on the bed where Tony was nursing a hell of a headache after the nitrous oxide poisoning.

 “You are not there when he comes out of the blue wanting to know why you all looked at him like he is mud on your shoes. You have not seen him asking Darcy to teach him human ethics or to explain why something that she said was not applicable to this or that case.”

Tony stayed quiet. He was not discussing wholeheartedly, and his head was about to burst, but she had a point and he wanted to listen to it, because some days he didn’t understand why Thor was part of the team. He had never been part of it, he had just fallen in the middle of their coming together and stuck. He didn’t have a troubled past and some days Tony outright hated him. Then he had a kind gesture and all was forgotten, but…

She looked at the far wall where little graffiti had been painted over. They had been given rooms in the tunnels of the refugees, and though kind of homely, they weren’t luxurious, more like that place where you crashed for the night when you were 21, broke and in a tight spot.

They didn’t understand what the graffiti were, but Jane was reminded of films of WWII  and expatriated travelers who migrated, fleeing the German invasion and left messages for those they left behind: ‘grandma died, she is buried in this cemetery. Family whatever’, ‘If name and surname ever find this message, we went south. Family this or that.’

She shuddered, looking at that painted wall that she didn’t really understand and wondered if they were in a better or worse position. She’d rather talk about the topic at hand. But she didn’t feel as thunderous.

 “You can be his Shield-brothers as much as you want, but you are not there when HE is the one who needs help.”

Tony counted ten poundings of his head, clearly defined and clearly annoying.

“But love? You are changing him. That is not love.”

“No, that is not love; that is helping him to become a better person because he wants to change. Love might be supporting him in what he wants. I don’t know if I love him enough to be something… _more_ together, but what we have now is true.

“Love… Love is chemistry, love is in making each other happy, helping each other through changes…"

“So, how is he helping you to change?”

“He has made me much more down-to earth.” Tony had a tiny smirk that Jane noticed anyway. “Figuratively.” She almost laughed, Tony saw it and it couldn’t be denied.

“But do you love the person he is, or the person he is becoming?”

“God, Tony,” she sighed like he was being thick on purpose. “He is not some two-faced alien. You should know that, are you not his friend? He will be the person he is now; what is important is that he wants to change. What about you and Walker?”

“Nope. Not going to go into that.” He answered straight away. “There are no changes, no love, no supporting, no trust, this is just fooling around.”

“Are you sure? I think you stirred the conversation to talk about love because you think there might be more. I think you _want_ to support him.” She smiled evilly. “Isn’t it scary?”

“It would be, probably, I wouldn’t know, metal heart and all that. I was just interested in Thor. Why don’t you go? Get out, get a coffee, get a life. I’m fine.”

“The doctors said to keep you resting, but awake. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Then make me actually think, tell me what you learnt from the Elves. It’s been a long time since you updated me on your project.”

“Fine. This is not over, but I did find some interesting things. They use their terminology, but the portals seem to work with dark matter and dark energy, or part of it. There is this ah… I need paper.”

“No you don’t.” Tony concentrated, waved a hand and the lights in the room moved to the familiar positions of a holographic display from Stark Industries. “I can’t quite create stuff, but manipulating light is so, so easy…”

Tony grinned and Jane arched a brow. “Showoff.”

  

Bruce and Loki walked for a long time. They mostly kept to the area where they had been led, since they both wanted to avoid meeting the Aesir again, but they had walked the fringes to explore where Dwarves had their workshops and studies and get a feel of the city where they could.

“As soon as you give us our things from the pocket dimension I could find a way to attune  my radiation machine to the other Infinity stones. I can practice with the one that was crushed down, if I can detect it even without it being active, I’m positive I could make it into a rastreator to keep track of where everyone who owns a stone is .”

“That would be brilliant. A tracer that doesn’t rely on magic or gadgets, but the very essence of what is being treasured. It would be hard to hide too.”

“I only need to enhance it.”

“That can be done through the right portals. Jane could explain it in your terms, but I think she calls it dark energy and dark matter, there is a way to hook the energy of the radiation you know to this dark energy.”

“But then I could do it, what? Tonight?”

“I think it would be possible, yes.”

“And that way I could concentrate tomorrow in my search.”

“Indeed.”

“Then by all means, come to my room and let’s get started!”

Loki smiled to himself. Where all human scientists that eager or had he just stumbled about a specially lively lot? Anyway, that’s how Loki spent a good portion of the night helping Bruce enhance his machine. And he didn’t leave until they detected the crushed infinity stone somewhere beyond one of the walls of Bruce’s room, still in the city.

Loki left the room with a grin on his face and he felt more than saw Natasha, arms crossed. Loki’s grin faded, he headed to his room and she fell into step.

“I see we are keeping the custom of having rooms to not sleep in them.”

“I have been thinking about Thor’s situation.” Loki had been thinking about him too, even though he didn’t want to. She continued. “I think there is enough confusion going on to get him back.”

“So do I.”

“I’ll take care of it with Jane while you take your samples and talk to whoever you need.”

Loki was stunned in place. She gauged his reaction and left him in the middle of the corridor. He had expected something completely different. She had not even asked what was his business in Bruce’s room and she had just suggested to split up. She had almost said aloud that she trusted him on his own in a twisted way. He didn’t know what to do with that information.

The night was long, there were more steps in the hallway than what anyone was comfortable with, there were no windows and hardly any breeze. Nobody slept quite comfortably that night, and Tony didn’t sleep at all: Doctor’s orders.

Fortunately,  the doctor came in the morning to tell him he was free to do as he pleased. If it was because of his good health or his annoying personality, they’d never know for sure. The point was that there were things to do and Tony didn’t want to do them in bed.

Like meeting Hela and Lady Smoke, arm in arm, completely by chance just as he went out on the hunt for food. Hela was all clad in dark floaty clothes and looking ready to shoot the Addams  Family revival and Lady Smoke wearing high boots and robe, short and simple, Tony would call it a no-nonsense robe. Tony still felt a bit caught in the headlights when she greeted him warmly.

“Stark, what a sight for cold eyes.” Tony smiled and made two silly bows to both women.

“Likewise , your highness’? Majesties? Girls? What are you doing here? I thought you’d be wherever great things must happen.”

Hela stepped forward to actually hug him. Again, Tony remembered vividly almost being poisoned by her.

“And here you are too, so we must be in the right way, don’t you think, Tony?” She held him at arm’ s reach with a big smile.

“Huh, sure, but what…”

“We came looking for Skywalker, but it looks like he left early. I wanted to thank him properly for saving my nephews.” Lady S moke explained.

“Yes, he is building himself quite a reputation, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think that was his intention.” Tony said sincerely and wondering if he was getting Walker in trouble.

“Well, of course not. He gave away my present and mocked it publicly if my sources are to be trusted. I certainly hope it wasn’t _planned_ and intentional.”

Tony hadn’t had any coffee yet. That was the main problem; that and the two ladies in front of him.

“I’m positive he didn’t mean any disrespect. If he meant to disrespect he’d have done it in front of you. Now, maybe a pair of well-travelled ladies like you could help this human out and point me to a source of food?”

“For the price of your presence, I consider it a bargain.” Hela flirted back.

The women guided him out of the designated hall of rooms, but not to the city center; apparently all of them wanted to avoid being noticed for the time being. Still, Tony was feeling much better and now he had time to notice his surroundings. There was technology here too, and a lot of it. If he had to guess from what he could see in the corridors, there was less technology than on earth (or maybe better integrated) but more than in Alfheim, the opposite could be said about magic.

Anyway, they ended up somewhere near the portals that brought Tony and his people here. Tony didn’t know that, he was just lost in the sameness of the corridors and the fact that the previous day he was out of it. But both Hela and Lady Smoke knew what they were doing. The place had bar stools outside and a perfect view of the bigger corridor where cargo came and went.

“Have you not seen it, my dear? It is about this big and always seems to stick to the one who needs more protection in the room.”

“I have not noticed much, but I will keep my eyes open. I can’t believe I missed a whole dragon. Oh, wait, this too! This is delicious! The tea, I think is too dense, but this! I wish I had one of those huge purses to put in like a thousand for later.”

“You must taste the ones at the street stalls. I really hope you can stay that long.”

“You look awfully distracted, Hela.” Tony said, finally catching on the wandering looks of both of them.

“I am. Expecting an Elf committee of war does that to some young women, don’t be too hard on me.”

Tony turned, there were more expectant people aside from them. Tony moved to sit by their side and not opposite them to see the show too. He munched his whatever –Hela said ‘whatever’ was the actual name but Tony didn’t believe her– and watched how the cargo flow was stopped and whole shipments were set aside to make room for a ludicrous group of Elves with so much pomp and ceremony that any  wedding planner on earth would have run in shame.

He was too far, but he saw clearly Thor, his guards and Gyöngy walking to meet them from the furthest entrance of the cave.

They were too far to hear the conversation. T ony wanted to approach the scene, but the women were relaxed watching things happen and he guessed all was under control, showing nervousness would only let them know how much he didn’t know about the situation.

Clearly, the main Elf gesturing wildly wanted war, but was making a diplomatic effort for the sake of the very recent war. They probably had come because they had a bone to pick, since Dwarves were harboring the criminals involved in the commotion in the docks last night.

Meanwhile, Gyöngy just listened and let this other guy who looked like a king talk and talk back. Probably about legal claims and sanctuary as well as jurisdiction and priorities.

Thor wasn’t talking much. Nobody let him time to do so and he was ignored when he did talk. Thunder rumbled. Thor was finally taken into account. He talked and after that Thor walked with the Elves, and since he was so noble, he must have obviously sacrificed himself to save everyone from war and his friends from incarceration, taking the blame. Tony rolled his eyes, why did they do that “laying on the wire thing”? Cut the wire already!

Also, it just meant trouble. Tony couldn’t follow the whole picture of intergalactic politics, but from afar this looked like the Elf family who just got Thor had also gained a fantastic bargain chip to negotiate with Odin. And Thor had not even considered it for a moment. The Elves looked smug even from that distance.

The guards were too distracted by the heroics of their prince and Tony saw them leave with the Dwarven king and Gyöngy.

Then Tony saw Jane sneaking around in one of the huge decorative things that the Elves had brought. She was easy to spot and nobody stopped her, Tony was sure a random Dwarf even distracted an Elf enough to let her cross a well illuminated area. Tony suspected Hela and Lady Smoke were not having a hard time following the interactions as he was.

The entourage left through the tunnel whence they came from. There was silence. Tony looked at his two companions; they kept looking. Tony sipped his thick tea thing. The cavern the Elves had used suddenly lit up. There were shouts in the distance, a short fight and as quick as the light died, the ruckus did too.

Tony waited. There had to be more, but no, people started to move as if nothing had happened at all. Was this even normal to them? He paid attention until Jane emerged back from the cave. Only then did Hela stand up and wave to make herself seen.

“You must be hungry after that ordeal, my friends!” She shouted.

Jane looked as guilty as was possible, but seeing Tony there too, she approached them. Only when she was a step away did Tony notice Natasha, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

“Uh, hello.” Jane started.

“That was a good start in the world of spies, but don’t quit your day job, darling.” Hela laughed and Lady Smoke followed suit.

“She won’t have to, as long as I am there.” Natasha replied and took one of Tony’s whatevers.

“Nevermind. Thor is safe now, I don’t think there is need for more spying from me.”

“For how long will he be safe?” Tony asked, still unable to guess what the hell had just happened.

“If the Bug is to be trusted, for as long as we want.”

“Won’t there be consequences for all the screaming we heard?”

“All traced back to the Bug and the very well timed prison break.” Natasha grinned.

Tony looked at both humans. Carefully. “You manipulated the portals they were going to use!”

“Oh, yes, I have to thank you for that idea, really. You said it about magic, you can’t create it, but manipulating it is easy, right? The same goes for portals, It has to do with this property Walker told us about, I must show you, but since I had the energy code of the portals, when they were opening their exit I only had to crouch close enough and make a tiny distortion to send them to the next portal.”

“Which was just over the platform that we destroyed the last time we were there, so there was only that acid-water to break their fall.” Natasha said with some glee.

“Then I keyed the portal where we agreed with the Bug to get and hide Thor. Last night when I left your room we discussed it until late, I’m just so tired…”

“The Elves were so smug about their Ferdamadur; they didn’t listen to Gyöngy warning them about the recent ‘faults’ in the system. ‘It must be the skills of your inferior class.’ Heh, no wonder Dwarves hate them.”

Tony wondered what else might be happening without his knowledge. He couldn’t afford lo sing consciousness, look what happened. Interesting stuff happened when he rested. H e should never rest again.

“Do you think everyone will be ready for tonight?” Lady Smoke asked Natasha.

“I believe most will. But I won’t be there.”

“Walker?” Hela asked eagerly.

“He will make time. I overheard him mentioning coming back to meet someone this morning when he and Bruce left.”

“I look forward to see him in a broader light. He is a one-to-one person if you know what I mean.” Lady Smoke wondered aloud.

“I feel like he carries too many burdens.” Jane said pensively.

Hela and Natasha looked at Lady Smoke when she hummed unsure. “Or too many lies.” Then she lightened up. “A larger public should solve that, don’t you think? You can’t fool everyone all the time in the same room.”

Tony looked at his own hands, he wanted to defend Walker, but he had more reasons to support Lady Smoke than to disprove her suspicions. So he kept quiet and wondered why Jane and Natasha had kept quiet too.

“Hela, how is the situation with the magic users under your wing?”

“Oh, you would think that ruling a hell-like realm prepared you for all kinds of nightmares, but they drive me up the gates of hell. They are ready, though, if that is what you mean. Oh, do I want to point them at something dangerous and let go of the leash.”

  

Meanwhile, Loki had been pursuing his mission. He had gone with Bruce to a populated area and had asked to be directed to any centre of study and implementation. Bruce had stayed behind to admire the streets, the breach that let open air in that shallow area. Loki had simply found maps and had taken the route to all the portals of the land, both open and closed. Fortunately, they had already developed an internet and Loki could extract maps from it easily. He still had to visit a great deal of them, but it was an easy job that didn’t require his full concentration.

Therefore, he plugged his earphones, made sure the dragon tailing him wouldn’t get into trouble, and played Jarvis’ rendering of the Jotun texts. It was a fantastic way of saving time. He would have trained more, and more gladly, if he had had his texts in this format years ago. As it was, he was learning about Jotun macro-geography , the movement of the great but slow ice and the snow waves that were as bad as volcanoes.

And then there was the history, the legends, a whole world of new information. Loki rewound and repeated some passages about magic, because he was shocked there were still things to learn in that area. And then there came a few words that made him frown at the portal he was manipulating.

Loki repeated the name slowly: Lævateinn. He actually laughed; Jotnar had an interesting sense of humor. Only they would dedicate thirty minutes to a spear/sword, its inception, the legend of its forge, how it was carved with runes from beneath Nagrindr, an (surely exaggerated) account of its exploits, who stole it, how it was found again, how it was treasured and used to trade for love and kingdom… and then name it “twig”. The full name was something like “Twig of the Guileful” too, yes, sure, but _twig_.

That kind of weapon could give them an edge; a sword as long as a spear, powerful and with an affinity to fire. Maybe it wasn’t the best weapon to fight Thanos, but it was infused with magic that was worth studying, it was as old as the gauntlet and maybe it would give [Tony] the last pieces to the puzzle that was forging it again. Furthermore, it could help to unify the Jotnar to fight against Thanos. The recording was misleading about its current whereabouts, but Loki knew by the description of the place exactly where to start looking.

Hadn’t Gyöngy mentioned something about stealing Nopeinpyöräs? He would take the first one of that booty and then head to the location, maybe he had the time, it would be easy. And maybe he could take Tony with him once again.

He kept listening to how Lævateinn had been used by Jotnar historical figures in times of need because it was more than any sword and any spear, and sampled portals almost humming happily.

  

That morning, Bruce had left his machines in his room trying to get a long exposure image of the location of the stones. He had slipped through the security measures with Walker and had been the only ones to go against regulations to explore. He was meeting many Dwarves and he had found quite a lot of them who were glad of sharing as much as they could.

That was how he had found their version of the internet. He had found places where he could access a terminal for free, he had not learnt their language in such a short term, but he had found a kind young Dwarf who set him a sort of messaging account and composed a message for him in what looked like a dating app, but with a wider spectrum. He had been communicating with Dwarven scientists who could speak allspeak as well as with translators.

The thing had, maybe, gotten out of hand and he only realized when he discovered he was more or less setting an alien science convention in 24 hours with much support from the net, but not from his fellow human scientists. This was the kind of thing that could happen to Tony Charming Stark, not to Bruce Hermit Banner!

  

Within the tomb of the old king, the infinity stone rested silent and guarded forever. Only hearing death, the decomposing king and its maggots, and the muffled noise from outside the stone coffin. Some guards muttering, the hum of the seidr protecting the area, the muffled noise of visits…

But that day there were no visits, the guards were silent, the seidr stopped its humming, and after a few minutes of true silence, the heavy front of the tomb moved aside.

  

 

Gyöngy had been discussing with the Aesir soldiers that since the Elves had taken their retribution with them, there were no charges against the human prisoners, they would be freed. It was also a nice touch that Thor had left in such a noble gesture, because now the guards were once again without documents and no legal support.

Of course Gyöngy remembered that Thor had vouched for them, but all she had to do was rotate the bureaucratic team so nobody remembered them and there they are! Defenseless again. If they remembered the names of the Dwarves who could recognize them, maybe the feisty one with whom they had argued for so long. Alas, they had been too arrogant to remember any such details, and so, they were at Gyöngy’s mercy.

After spinning it so they would be running in bureaucratic circles for a long while, she went to organize the necessary details of the meeting.

  

Jane and Natasha had left them to their own devices. Meaning Tony was learning lots about the Death Realm and the Fire Nation, but the best part was that now that the Aesir weren’t actively looking for more than their asses, the three were all too eager to skip the restrictions and hit the city’s heart, where they crossed paths with a very busy Gyöngy who glared at them from over people’s shoulders for ignoring the order to stay in the safe streets.

“Gyöngy is too worried; the prince and the other Aesir are not here anymore.” Lady Smoke waved cheerily at Gyöngy from the other side of the street. “Tony?”

Tony was not operative. Once they reached the inner caves, Tony had had a religious experience, maybe. He had _expected_ and in his line of work, expecting wasn’t productive. He had expected the Dwarves to live in caves underground, with forgeries, like someone had said in the inter-world meeting. Frankly, he had assumed either Tolkien or Jackson had somehow strolled through a Dwarven mine and depicted it accurately in their fictions.

He had expected cathedral-like caves, or stone-craved homes, earth walls, torches, humidity, hammers, open fires, darkness… the whole folklore stick. After all, the Elves were more or less like he had expected if he added the advanced alien part. For some reason, he had expected medieval Dwarves.

He was ecstatic about being wrong; at least he was in his mind, because he wouldn’t admit to being wrong outside of that confinement.

Just to start, he had expected either torches or bioluminescence. It was completely unsettling looking up to see how the translucent stone ceiling gave way to light. He could feel the telling warmth of natural light and the “cave” was full of fucking trees. Tony could have assumed that it was magic, but he had studied with Walker too much to give in and accept the easy answer.

Also, he had heard about a project to light tunnels in New York in a similar way. There had to be cables transporting natural light from the surface. Well placed reflectors and some kind of material that looked like transparent quartz, but radiated natural light and at some points even let him see a purple sky above.

The light, however, was just one of Tony’s thoughts. The caves were not a cathedral or an underground base. The walls were mostly made of decorated stone, geometrical designs all over them, (older buildings had figure cravings, modern cravings were more geometrical and abstract, or at least Tony guessed that was the right order) some walls were made of metal, some were of materials Tony couldn’t identify immediately or at all, the most modern structures had organic lines everywhere, Tony could see structural purpose in every shape, every corner, every level and he could almost guess the purpose of them.

These buildings made sense, and not just in the easy, practical way either. A cinderblock could be practical and stable enough; but these constructions reached to excellence, structural optimization, use of light, buildings to ensure easy flow of the inner plumbing. Tony could read the evolution in the style, the learning process… There had to be some history about the decoration, of course, he couldn’t just guess that part, but the position, shape and size of windows,  the staggered gantries, the remodeling… It made sense that the Dwarves would be master architects, if they had to hold up whole cities under who knew how much pressure. Tony… might have overlooked that.

Maybe Tony was a bit in love with Dwarven architecture, because it was nothing like Earth. Nothing like New York, really. During his walk he could see the pulse of the city in a well organized fashion, the streets were nice, wide, not too crowded. Some of the buildings were stepped and had gardens on every floor. Those were on the side and not as illuminated as the middle of the street, Tony noticed, so the vegetation was more similar to fern than trees.

Hela and Lady Smoke had started their own conversation while he gawked, so he didn’t feel guilty for ignoring them for a bit longer.

The people: they looked so human, short humans, most of them, but kind of Aeasir and Elven and even more combinations. There were children out there laughing. There were Dwarves coming and going, busy with their day to day life. Tony saw one Dwarf riding what looked like roller-skates, he even turned to keep looking at the oddly big wheels, and he then realized that many had… phones? Dwarves were talking to small devices, those had to be phones.

Then, their clothes, those were not made of fur or leather like he had expected. They did wear metal plaques like breastplates, but it was more like jewelry than armor. They had bright clothes underneath. Bright greens, bright blues, yellows, some pastel, and other pieces with smart lines and looking like suits. It was… far less strange than New York’s  population, probably.

It was nothing like the grandiose, cookie-cut sameness nonsense of Asgard. It was nothing like the Elven tribal organization full of excess and an air of individual or clan-growth, diversity being there just to show rank. This, Tony had not yet seen anything and he still got a sense of a functioning society.

“Keep in mind that this is one of the richest cities of the realm.” Hela interrupted his tourist neck-exercises all around them. “Not all of them look like this.”

“Great! I won’t get bored when I come to get lost after we win the war. Still, I got the feeling that the Dwarves are not highly rated in the “realms where I’d rather be stuck”.”

“That is right. I don’t really understand, but I’ve grown to love my land, my tastes are not anywhere near what the majority consider good.”

“I find it too dark for my tastes.” Lady Smoke said, but since she came from a desert planet, it was to be expected. 

“Are you done people-watching? I wanted to ask about the evacuation plans.”

“Oh, yes, Walker gave us a map of the portals and Thor helped making an educated guess about the weak spots in case of a landing.”

“Have you considered interrealm refuge?” Lady Smoke said. “I know you agreed to have some of my people over there when the revolution starts, but…”

“No, not yet, especially because it is already hard moving large populations a few kilometers away, but it would be a nightmare moving them to a whole different planet.”

“Maybe only some of them; in case everything goes wrong.”

Tony looked at her not understanding what she meant.

“In case of extinction, Tony.” Hela explained.

Tony frowned; then burst laughing.

“Are you thinking in terms of biodiversity, really? A Noah’s ark of humans? A pet zoo? No way. Discussing it would take centuries. Who do we save? The wealthy? The fittest? The most voted? The highest IQ? No.”

“It would take too much time to even decide, Smoke.”

“I guess you are right, but it pains me all the same.”

“There you are! Come, I don’t need you arriving late on top of ignoring orders to stay put.” Gyöngy stopped right in front of them riding a contraption like a levitating car with seats facing each other and no room for a driver. “Especially you, you should be resting.” She pointed at Tony.

Tony didn’t care much; he jumped into the contraption and enjoyed the street passing by fast. He noticed the pedestrians, and wondered about that ogre, or the slim skipping guy over there, or the Aesir-looking blonde and her innocent look, or the lizard pushing a litter of smaller lizards.

“Now, what were you discussing? I don’t appreciate you three planning behind my back in my own home.”

“Smoke suggested a human zoo.” Tony said instantly trying to placate the Dwarf.

“Hela said we should introduce my dragons to her Wyr.” Lady Smoke added her two cents.

“Tony has a crush on your city.”

“Just check the buildings the urban network! So efficient! And the green! There are birds and stuff in those trees! I think I saw a squirrel and look! Ravens! Living underground! What’s not to crush on?”

“Hah! He has seen nothing yet!” Gyöngy said proudly. “Like you two would have the slightest idea of where to take him. It is a pity that we won’t be able to attend to the Competences Exposition that will take place these days.”

“A Competences Exposition? What is that?”

“Something new. A gathering of experts who expose the latest advancements and the troubles they have found in their research. With some luck, there will be intersection with a different area that will hold the solution.”

“Like solving the questions of the century, yes, I see.”

“It must be some spontaneous initiative, because I have not seen anyone prepare or discuss it prior to this morning.”

“Does Walker need a ride? Maybe we could pick him up?” Hela interrupted.

“I don’t really know where he is; ask Natasha, she seems to be his keeper. I’ll send him a text, though. Is the rest of the group there already?”

“I know most of the magic users will already be there, especially if there is food, but I’ll probably have to track down a few. I don’t want to know what would happen if I lost track of Gytha here.”

“This is the place.” Gyöngy pointed.

The vehicle stopped conveniently to let the traffic flow and let them down before leaving.

It was in the line of the rest of the city, but Tony was done staring for now. There were people to gauge. Several Dwarves, including the one who had seemed to orchestrate part of the Thor show. A Chitauri was there too; Tony had not learnt to tell their faces apart, but since all were one in a way, it was safe to assume this one was repeated too. There were magic users gathering too, and Tony was suddenly very aware of his own neglected ability to see and manipulate magic and how much more experience everyone around him had. Today was confidence mask then.

Oh, and then there was the mop of red head who had not deigned to reply to his text.

“Walker!” He waved and approached.

Walker had with him that yeti guy, Migou, and a dirty-blue giant.

“[Tony Stark], you already know Migou and this is Tulpit, from Jotunheim. They have matters to discuss with people from Midgard.”

“Didn’t you go to New York, to the tower? Someone would have helped you here, Jarvis is in charge.”

“My suspicions didn’t merit disrupting the careful ongoing preparations for war.”

“Bullshit, Jarvis’ memory banks are far from full; you can lay it on him. But since you are already here, what is it you need?”

 “The Antarctica  portal. We located the Alfheim splinter too. We have kept it closed, but lately there have been noises. Voices and machinery on the other side, we are not sure if it comes from that Hydra base you mentioned back on Earth or if it comes from the side of Thanos, but there has been movement and we fear what would happen if the portal opened on its own.”

“The structure is certainly falling apart; it is a risk we can’t afford. We should contact home immediately.”

“I don’t think you will.” Hela interrupted playfully pushing Walker to make space for herself. “Let us walk inside; I think it is us they are waiting for. But, Listen, Tony, I think your protectiveness is making you miss a big opportunity.”

“Hela, you would do the same if it was your realm. They are doing enough as it is by painting themselves as targets." Walker said in a neutral tone. “And I really think eavesdropping is considered rude in all the realms.”

“Oh, but that is not true, my friend. I think it would be much ruder if I had overheard and kept it to myself out of politeness, don’t you think?”

“Queen Hela, it is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard of your selflessness hiding the magic users who ran from Asgard, some of them are friends, and some were my teachers; the magic community has a huge debt to you.” Tupit bowed to her. “If you ever need our help, our tribe would be happy to assist.”

“Now that you mention it…”

Hela put her arm over Tupit and he felt the weight of commitment. Hela walked him away with a sly smile and Tupit wondered if he had made a mistake. Walker threw over his shoulder something about a legendary sword that he needed to discuss with Migou later and took Tony aside.

“Ask.” He said.

“What did she mean?” Tony asked suspiciously.

“She suggests using this information to our advantage before closing the portal down. Maybe seize their numbers, the species Thanos is going to send here, their technology. Maybe let in a small group of rangers and ambush them. We could also take the Hydra base, pretend to be there, strike an alliance and feed them poisoned information.”

“This is not going to fly well with all of the Avengers.”

“…Natasha will approve, I am sure.”

“Maybe even Fury; after all it is his whole shtick; spying to prevent more damage than necessary and other lawless tricks.”

They got into the building; it had runes on the walls and busy Dwarves everywhere. They went through a patio with less busy Dwarves and some of them waved to someone they recognized in the crowd. Two women of their group seemed to be going on their own with several more Dwarves and something in their sneaky behavior made Tony think they were off to have fun.

“Gytha, no!” Hela hushed-shouted and ran to their side.

 “Gytha, yes! Don’t be so uptight, Hela. I’ll be back when I’m back.”

“But you…”

“Look, my girl, don’t try to keep me here. We both know you’ll regret it more than I.”

Walker, by Tony’s side, giggled at Hela’s predicament. The witch and Hela had a glare match until Gytha approached Hela and whispered something. Hela’s eyebrows rose with suspicion, but she made a gesture allowing her to leave. Hela went back pensively.

Tony was led by gentle but firm nudges to the double doors where everyone was going. As if they suspected Tony would follow the group of miscreants at the first opportunity.

Surprisingly enough, Walker made sure he was sitting next to the Chitauri, probably to translate. Tony was more interested in the mages he had met the last time, who were glad of finding him again and most of them were thrilled about Tony learning magic. Even if it was just baby steps compared to them.

Some galleries above them, while they discussed what the war efforts were and what the magic users could do to speed things up, fortify or make perfect, the thief of the Dwarven king’s tomb left the realm in a swirl of magic.

The thief had time to run far for long, the time to eat came and went without further notice. It wasn’t until the change of shift that the authorities were alerted, and it was almost night time when Gyöngy excused herself from the reunion with a pale face.

“You must come.” She whispered at Tony.

Tony went with her and she made a sign so Walker would join them. Gyöngy took them to an adjacent empty room and locked the door.

“It is always you two causing trouble, isn’t it?”

“If you think so, you should meet Captain America.”

“Don’t play with me. You are going to tell me everything there is to know about your project with the infinity gauntlet.”

“Do you really need me for this, I should be in…”

“As should I, but neither of us is going to go anywhere until you explain yourselves. Because if you need something in my city, you go through me. Not the king, not the house of requirements, me. We can’t afford to stab each other and waste resources stupidly. Now, should I call the guards or will you tell me why you thought it was a good idea to desecrate the late king’s tomb?”

“The what, now?” Tony sputtered.

“You two are working with the infinity stones, I see why you’d want what is left of ours, but I can’t imagine why in the deepest betas of platinum you would go behind my back.”

“You must excuse us, but finding the infinity stone had been reduced to dust was the main reason we started this project. We have no reason or use for the stone dust.”

“I want to believe you, I really do, but it is too much of a coincidence.”

“I’ve had people with me since the moment I came. I’ve had no time to steal anything.”

“No, not you, but your dealer here was unaccounted for all morning.”

“I had this human device with me, it is limited with no satellites, but it partially shows my whereabouts, and as you can see, I spent all of my time too far away from the city opening portals.”

Gyöngy paced and pulled her beard, she didn’t look happy with their explanations.

“I really wanted it to be you two. I really, really wanted it to be you, no matter how much sense it didn’t make.”

Walker seemed to sink to her nervous state too.

“Of course, because if it wasn’t us… There must be someone who stole it because they think they can use it.”

“That stone was fine dust, to get it back to its previous state you’d have to put every single piece in a perfect position and seal it perfectly.”

“That kind of spell, with that much attention to detail, it must be really powerful.”

“Are we talking Odin?”

“Or Thanos.”

“Maybe one of the Elf families would do it too, but that’s not likely.”

“Nobody in the reunion?”

“No, they are not powerful enough, not even together.”

“Anyone who might have been trying to steal it for us. Our project is not as secret as it once was.”

“I don’t think so. They would have alerted you by now, this happened this morning.”

“Also, anyone involved in the project knows that we have no use for that broken stone.”

“How did it happen?”

“The main guard was occupied getting their juices squeezed…” Gyöngy looked at their faces of bafflement. “Fucked, they were busy fucking. Now they are getting their disciplinary fine. And the magical barriers were shut down. They are not especially advanced, since there is not much magic in the realm and even less mages-thieves. It is still complex enough that not just any apprentice would be able to shut it down.”

“So, no matter the thief, the stone is right now in the hands of either Odin or Thanos.” Tony let the silence confirm the uncomfortable deduction. “What do we do now?”

“We could try to track it down once it starts to emit a signal, but by then it will be too late, it will be working.”

“It might take a long time until the gem is whole again, this is just another ticking clock, there is nothing we must do, just be faster than them.”

A red and black cloud of smoke made a pattern on the floor by Walker’s side. The three of them stepped away from it and drew whichever weapon they had at hand and Gyöngy also opened the lock on the door in case they had to run.

A green woman came coughing from the cloud of smoke with a gun trained on them. It went from Walker to Tony and then stayed at Gyöngy.

“Gamora?” Walker let his arms hang in a sign of peace.

“I have the bad news you sought. Thanos is no longer distracted.”

  

 

**Author's Note:**

> LeAwesomeOneIX suggsted to create a guide for mythology and references, so you can find it [here](http://jaybarou.tumblr.com/post/90606841285/since-leawesomeoneix-suggested-it-im-going-to)!
> 
> My gratitude to SmallFurryCreaturesFromAlphaCentauri too, who helped with the Finnish translations!
> 
> Kadja83 is incredible, she [did this](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1976037)! Go and love her!
> 
> Edit: There is more by Kadja[ here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2159787)! 
> 
> Thanks, Sam, you are an awesome beta, your research is always spot on, and your comments crack me up. 
> 
> And they have [ fan](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2802935) [art](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2803046) [ too](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3293882) ! I feel completely spoiled! 
> 
> Edit: Kallona made fanart![ and it is fantastic](http://kall0na.tumblr.com/post/103312075605/i-got-too-inspired-of-the-god-and-the-bennu-by)! 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Torches Lighted Up at his Command](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2802935) by [EmuSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmuSam/pseuds/EmuSam)
  * [The Bennu Flies Free](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2803046) by [EmuSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmuSam/pseuds/EmuSam)




End file.
